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S.  H.  BtU  iOtbrara 

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North  (Earoltna  ^taU  llmoprailii 

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Illlil  IJlllllllllllMI!  Illllllllill 

S00151147  J 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  DATE 
INDICATED  BELOW  AND  IS  SUB- 
JECT TO  AN  OVERDUE  FINE  AS 
POSTED  AT  THE  CIRCULATION 
DESK. 


-^^c- 


How  to  Grow 

One  Hundred  Bushels  of  Com  Per  Acre 

On  Worn  Soils 


WILLIAM  C^SMITH 

OF  INDIANA 


CORN  IS  KING" 


SECOND  EDITION 
REVISED,  ENLARGED  AND  ILLUSTRATED 


CINCINNATI 

STEWART  &  KIDD  COMPANY 

1912 


Copyright  1910 

William  C.  Smith 

Copyright   1912 

Stewart  &  Kidd  Company 


■S5g 


fHE  farmer  of  the  past  scorned  the  study 
of  scientific  agriculture.  He  found 
the  soil  rich  in  the  elements  that  pro- 
duce storehouses  of  riches.  He  touched  it 
with  the  wand  of  greed  and  neglect — it  was 
strangled  with  its  wasted  fertility. 

?HE  modern  farmer  became  a  student 
of  scientific  agriculture.  He  found 
the  soil  depleted  and  despoiled  of  its 
fertility.  He  touched  it  with  the  wand  of 
his  knowledge — it  became  rich  in  the  ele- 
ments that  produce  a  hundredfold. 

fHERE  grows  in  Nature's  Garden  the 
plants  with  which  the  farmer  can  re- 
store his  sick,  worn-out  soils.  These 
plants  are  the  silent  working  forces  of 
Nature  that  do  their  work  better  than  any 
artificial  agency  devised  by  man;  thus  it 
behooves  us  to  study  Nature's  way  of  doing 
things. 

''Accuse  not  Nature^  she  hath  done  her 
part.     Do  thou  but  thine T — Milton, 

5 

PROPERTY  OF 

SS^  3T        *  *  ^^  COLLEGE  LIBRARY. 


PROEM 

TO   FIRST   EDITION 

IN  a  little  frame  farmhouse  on  a  pioneer's  farm,  in 
the  Indian  Reserve,  out  of  which  Howard  County, 
Indiana,  was  carved,  the  author  first  saw  the  light 
of  day.  His  first  vision  of  the  world  was  through  the 
six  by  six  glass  windows  out  across  the  door  yard  and 
public  highway  into  the  "  clearin'."  His  father,  a  sturdy 
pioneer,  had  settled  in  this  wilderness  abounding  in  gi- 
gantic walnut,  poplar  and  oak  trees,  interspersed  with 
the  smaller  varieties  of  timber  and  underbrush,  and  by 
strength  of  muscle  alone,  was  subduing  the  forests  and 
making  the  land  to  blossom  with  the  fruits  of  the  hus- 
bandman- 

The  pioneer  father  is  sleeping  now.  He  sleeps  beside 
the  faithful  wife  who  gave  him  companionship  in  the 
days  of  his  toil.  He  sleeps  in  the  beautiful  land  made 
so  by  the  strength,  toil  and  endurance  of  the  pioneer. 

To  the  memory  of  that  pioneer  father,  who  loved  the 
soil,  this  book  is  dedicated;  and  as  the  pioneer  fathers 
subdued  the  land  from  the  wilderness  and  gave  it  to  their 
children,  rich  in  the  fertility  that  Nature  gave  it,  may  the 
children  so  farm  and  treat  it  that  that  fertility  may  in- 
crease and  not  decrease  as  the  years  go  by. 

The  author  loves  the  soil  or  else  this  book  would  have 
ne'er  been  born. 

7 


8  PROEM  TO  FIRST  EDITION 

Loving  the  soil  as  he  does,  his  indignation  is  aroused 
when  he  sees  it  despoiled  by  the  soil  robber.  If  this 
book  will  only  awaken  the  conscience  of  the  soil  de- 
spoiler,  the  author  will  feel  that  his  efforts  have  not  been 
in  vain. 

William  C.  Smith. 
Delphi,  Indiana, 

January,  1910. 


PROEM 

TO   SECOND   EDITION 


f   ■    "^HE  first  edition  of  this  book  is  exhausted.     It 
having  met  with  such  an  unexpected,  flattering 


1 


reception,  a  second  edition  is  ventured. 

In  the  two  years  that  the  first  edition  has  been  before 
the  public,  the  author  has  received  so  many  commenda- 
tions from  the  press  and  people  regarding  the  merits  and 
helps  of  his  book,  that  he  feels  that  he  must  have  touched 
a  key  note  of  worn  soil  restoration,  the  greatest  and  most 
important  problem  for  solution  now  before  the  people. 

He,  therefore,  perceives  that  it  is  a  greater  honor  to 
have  so  important  a  part  in  this  great  soil  restoration 
movement,  than  to  be  honored  with  any  high  office  in  the 
gift  of  the  people. 

No  nation  can  become  a  power  without  a  fertile  soil. 
When  a  nation's  soil  becomes  worn  and  loses  its  power 
to  produce  paying  crops,  then  death  and  decay  is  written 
on  its  very  vitals. 

If  we  would  have  our  nation  to  continue  its  place  at 
the  head  of  nations,  we  must  maintain  the  fertility  of 
our  soils  and  prevent,  by  every  possible  means,  their  ex- 
haustion. 

It  is  the  hope  of  the  author  that  this  book  and  its  les- 
sons may  play  an  important  part  in  so  solving  the  soil 
9 


10  PROEM  TO  SECOND  EDITION 

problem,  that  our  soils  will  be  kept  to  the  highest  state 
of  fertility,  that  this  nation  may  continue  great. 

William  C.  Smith. 

Delphi,  Indiana, 
January,  191 2. 


INTRODUCTION 

TO   FIRST   EDITION 

ABANDONED  farms  and  decreasing  production 
of  our  farm  lands  is  the  present-day  menace  of 
our  country.  Increasing  population,  decreasing 
fertility  of  our  soils  and  fewer  acres  of  new  land  opened 
for  settlement,  brings  us  each  day  nearer  the  solution  of 
the  problem,  how  shall  we  feed  our  people? 

The  answer  to  the  question  is  the  "  Renovation  of 
Worn-out  Soils  "  so  that  they  will  again  produce  as  they 
did  when  our  forefathers  subdued  them  from  the  wilder- 
ness that  held  them  in  subjection  for  centuries. 

Renovation  of  the  Soil  —  what  does  it  mean? 

It  means  to  make  the  soil  over  again,  to  restore  it  to 
freshness  and  vigor  —  to  renew  it. 

Too  many  American  farmers  have  gone  upon  the 
principle  that  their  land  will  never  wear  out.  Their 
fathers  entered  upon  land  covered  with  the  virgin  forest, 
rich  in  all  the  elements  that  make  good  soil ;  the  forests 
were  subdued  and  the  land  brought  into  cultivation; 
bountiful  crops  were  produced  because  the  soil  was  well 
supplied  with  humus,  nitrogen,  potash  and  other  elements 
found  in  first  class  soils.  Year  after  year  bumper  crops 
were  gathered  from  these  lands,  the  pioneer  died,  and 
his  sons  and  sons'  sons  continued  to  farm  these  lands  in 
II 


12       INTRODUCTION  TO  FIRST  EDITION 

the  same  manner  and  with  the  same  methods  as  they 
were  farmed  by  the  pioneer. 

It  did  not  seem  possible  to  the  sons  and  sons'  sons 
that  these  rich  lands  could  ever  reach  the  point  of  ex- 
haustion, or  that  the  time  would  come  when  they  must 
be  farmed  and  treated  in  a  different  manner  than  when 
they  were  first  cleared  and  planted,  yet  that  very  time 
has  come  to  millions  of  acres  of  American  soils. 

Millions  of  acres  of  our  land  that  once  produced  from 
seventy-five  to  one  hundred  bushels  of  corn  per  acre  will 
not  now  produce  twenty  bushels  to  the  acre.  These 
acres  have  gone  into  "  agricultural  bankruptcy." 

Being  confronted  with  this  condition,  what  can  we  do 
to  remedy  it?  Is  there  a  remedy  and  is  the  remedy  a 
sure  and  quick  one  ?  The  remedy  must  be  quick,  for  we 
cannot  wait  fifty  years  as  England  did  to  restore  our 
soils. 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  give  the  remedy  and  to 
prove  that  it  is  a  sure  and  quick  one. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Proem  To  First  Edition 7 

Proem  To  Second  Edition 9 

Introduction   ii 

CHAPTER  I. 
Soil  19 

CHAPTER  II. 
Drainage   27 

CHAPTER  IIL 
Organic  Matter 35 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Soil  Ventilation 45 

CHAPTER  V. 
Plowing  51 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Soil  Covering 69 

CHAPTER  VII. 
How  to  Produce  and  Get  Organic  Matter  Into  the  Soil 75 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Rye   81 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Hungarian 89 

CHAPTER  X. 

Sand,  or  Hairy  Vetch 95 

13 


14  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Alfalfa  :  13 

CHAPTER  XH. 
Sweet  Cover  123 

CHAPTER  XHI. 
Red  Qover  129 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Author's  Method  of  Restoring  Worn  andWorn-out  Soils.  137 

CHAPTER  XV. 
King  Corn 145 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Culture  of  Corn 159 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Sweet  Corn 165 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
A  Chapter  of  Don't  Forgets 175 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Conclusion 185 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Frontispiece    2 

"  The  Clearin'  " 6 

The  Original  Soil  Builders  in  the  Timber  Belt 18 

Plowing  Under  Organic  Matter 34 

A  Fine  Crop  of  Organic  Matter  For  Plowing  Under 44 

Nature's  Plows  and  Cultivators  at  Winter  Rest 50 

A  Double  Disc  Plow 54 

The  Spalding  Deep  Tilling  Machine 60 

Plowing  Under  Corn  Stalks  With  Deep  Tilling  Machine 64 

A  Fine  Soil  Covering 68 

A  Young  Vetch  Plant  Showing  Nitrogen  Nodules  on  Its  Roots  74 

Vetch  Plant  Taken  From  Frozen  Soil 80 

A  Bunch  of  Vetch  Taken  From  Under  Ice  and  Water 88 

A  Field  of  Vetch  in  Full  Bloom 94 

Vetch  Stems  Showing  Bloom  and  Seed  Pods 102 

Vetch  Plants  Taken  in  Winter  From  Top  of  High  Sand  Ridge.  112 

Vetch  Seed,  Actual  Size 122 

Vetch  Seed,  Magnified 128 

A  Promising  Corn  Field  FertiHzed  With  Vetch 136 

A  Promising  Potato  Field  Fertilized  With  Vetch 144 

"  Well !     I  Wonder  Which  Is  the  Best  Seed  Ear  " 158 

Ten  Good  Ears  of  Boon  County  White,  But  Not  Prize  Getters.  164 

A  Good  Type  of  Sweet  Corn  Seed,  Stowell's  Evergreen 174 

The  Farmer's  Best  Product  If — , 184 

15 


THE  ORIGINAL  SOIL  BUILDERS  IN  THE  TIMBER  BELT.  \ 


CHAPTER  I 

SOILS 

SOIL  is  defined  as  being  the  upper  stratum  of  the 
earth  or  that  compound  substance  which  furnishes 
nutriment  to  plants,  or  which  is  particularly 
adapted  to  support  and  nourish  them. 

Soil  varies  in  depth  from  a  few  inches  to  several  feet. 
Clay  soils  were  produced,  in  part,  by  the  wearing  down 
and  decomposition  of  rocks  containing  aluminous  min- 
erals, as  granite.  Sandy  soil  consists  of  fine  particles  of 
stone  placed  where  found,  by  the  washing  of  water. 
Muck  soil  is  produced  by  the  decay  of  large  quantities  of 
vegetation. 

Clay  and  sandy  soils  were  originally  improved  and 
made  rich  by  the  addition  for  centuries  of  vegetable  mat- 
ter such  as  leaves,  weeds  and  other  vegetation. 

We  agree  with  him  who  said  "  that  the  condition  of 
the  soil  is  of  more  importance  than  its  character."  Any 
kind  of  soil,  whether  clay,  sandy  or  muck,  can  be  made 
to  produce  large  crops  if  put  in  proper  condition. 

While  it  is  true  that  clay  or  heavy  soils  have  more  of 
the  elements  of  plant  growth  in  them,  yet  sandy  or  muck 
soils  by  proper  treatment  will  produce  as  much,  if  not 
more,  than  the  clay  or  heavy  soils. 

In  life's  battles  the  "  knowing  how  "  is  the  entering 
wedge  that  opens  the  way  to  success.  So  it  is  in  the 
19 


■20  SOILS 

treatment  of  the  soils,  the  "  knowing  how  "  to  put  them 
in  condition  is  the  secret  of  success  in  growing  crops. 

The  "  whip  and  spur "  method  of  farming,  so  long 
practiced  in  the  United  States,  by  which  our  soils  have 
been  subjected  to  the  process  of  getting  all  you  can  out 
of  them,  without  the  return  of  anything  to  maintain  or 
increase  fertility,  has  so  exhausted  vast  areas  of  our 
soils  that  they  no  longer  produce  paying  crops. 

Any  soil  that  will  not  produce  paying  crops  may  be 
justly  termed  a  worn-out  soil.  These  worn-out  soils 
abound  in  all  parts  of  our  land.  Even  the  rich  corn  belt 
is  not  immune  from  the  curse  of  worn-out  soils. 

As  a  rule  a  greedy  husbandry  or  a  sordid  tillage  has 
been  the  producer  of  worn-out  soils,  although  the  decep- 
tive theory  of  crop  rotation  has  been  to  a  degree  a  pro- 
ducer of  them ;  for  crop  rotation  alone  will  not  maintain 
soil  fertility.     It  is  but  a  stimulant. 

Worn-out  soils  being  so  extensive,  then,  has  not  their 
restoration  become  the  vital  problem  of  the  hour? 

It  is  appalling  in  going  over  the  country  to  see  so 
many  farmers  so  treating  their  lands  as  to  bring  them 
each  day  nearer  the  doom  that  hangs  over  all  mistreated 
lands,  "  the  abandoned  farm." 

Not  one  farmer  in  ten  is  giving  his  land  a  chance. 
Not  one  in  ten  seems  to  know  how  to  build  up  his  soil, 
or  if  he  does,  he  seems  to  be  going  on  the  principle  that 
he  can  get  enough  from  his  land  to  support  him  during 
his  lifetime  and  does  not  care  for  his  posterity  or  future 
generations. 

He  is  like  an  ex-governor  of  a  great  state  who  spent 
his  declining  days  on  the  farm  which  before  he  died  was 


SOILS  21 

in  the  worst  condition  of  any  in  the  neighborhood. 
People  wondered  why  a  man  whose  life  and  business  in 
other  lines  had  been  so  successful  should  allow  his  farm, 
upon  which  he  was  residing,  to  get  into  such  a  condition. 
The  governor  was  interrogated  regarding  the  matter  and 
replied,  "  I  am  not  farming  for  future  generations." 

But  it  is  encouraging  to  see  so  many  of  our  great 
financiers,  statesmen  and  people  in  the  humbler  walks  of 
life  becoming  interested  in  soil  restoration.  Our  agri- 
cultural schools  are  doing  a  noble  work  along  this  line. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  condition  of  the  soil  is  of  more 
importance  than  its  character,  then  it  is  not  necessary  for 
us  to  go  into  the  discussion  of  the  relative  value  of  the 
different  kinds  of  soils,  further  than  to  say  that  some  of 
the  extreme  sandy  soils  of  New  Jersey  and  Long  Island 
have  by  proper  treatment  been  transformed  into  the  rich- 
est of  soils;  so  have  the  sandy  lands  of  Holland  been 
made  worth  $3,000  per  acre  by  proper  treatment. 

After  thorough  study,  backed  up  by  actual  experiment, 
we  make  the  statement  that  most  any  sandy  or  clay  soil 
can  be  made  to  yield  100  bushels  of  corn  per  acre. 

That  this  can  be  done,  and  done  quickly,  we  have 
demonstrated  by  actual  experiments. 

Three  elements  are  necessary  to  make  good  soils : 
Potash,  phosphorus  and  nitrogen;  and  the  last  men- 
tioned, according  to  the  best  authority,  is  the  "  most 
precious,  the  most  important  and  the  most  costly."  It 
is  the  element  soonest  farmed  out  of  fertile  soils. 

It  is  said  that  "  nitrogen  promotes  growth,  phosphorus 
produces  fruitfulness  and  early  maturity,  and  potash 
increases  quality." 


22  SOILS 

Most  sandy,  clay  or  heavy  soils  contain  sufficient  pot- 
ash and  phosphorus,  but  are  wholly  lacking  in  humus, 
organic  matter  and  nitrogen. 

One  writer  says  that  "  corn,  oats  and  wheat  are  made 
of  plant  food ;  that  they  consist  of  ten  certain  elementary 
substances;  that  a  ton  of  corn  contains  a  ton  of  these 
plant  food  elements,  of  which  only  three  are  secured  by 
the  corn  plant  from  air  and  water.  The  seven  are  taken 
from  the  soil.  The  three  elements  make  up  more  than 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  corn,  but  the  other  seven  are  no 
less  essential  to  plant  growth." 

The  seven  elements  mentioned  and  which  make  up  but 
ten  per  cent,  of  the  corn  crop,  are  generally  found  in 
sufficient  quantities  in  all  soils  to  last  from  500  to  17,- 
600  years. 

The  chief  lack  of  worn-out  soils  is  humus,  organic 
matter  and  nitrogen. 

Humus  is  the  residue  of  decayed  organic  matter. 

Organic  matter  is  vegetable  or  animal  matter,  like 
leaves,  roots,  sticks,  grasses,  manure,  straw,  etc. 

Therefore  that  which  is  left  of  organic  matter  after  it 
has  passed  through  its  process  of  decay  is  humus.  It 
appears  in  the  soil  as  a  dark-colored  substance,  and  where 
it  exists  in  abundance  renders  the  soil  black. 

Soils  originally  procured  their  entire  supply  of  humus 
and  a  large  portion  of  nitrogen  from  decayed  vegetation 
or  organic  matter,  secured  in  their  progress  of  formation. 

Virgin  soils  procured  their  largest  supply  of  nitrogen 
from  the  air  through  the  work  of  those  soil  bacteria  who 
make  their  homes  in  the  root  nodules  of  those  plants 
known  as  the  nitrogen-gathering  plants  or  the  legumes, 


SOILS  23 

and  who  draw  for  their  food  the  nitrogen  from  the  air, 
and  drawing  more  than  they  need,  store  the  surpkis 
in  the  soil  where  it  becomes  available  for  plant  food. 

There  are  thousands  of  nitrogen-gathering  plants,  some 
of  them  being  the  trees  of  the  forests. 

Go  into  the  virgin  forest  such  as  once  covered  the 
middle  west  —  and  there  are  some  such  forests  existing 
to-day,  but  they  are  not  large  —  and  you  will  see  between 
the  trees,  the  ground  covered  with  decayed  and  decaying 
tree  trunks  and  limbs  and  a  heavy  coating  of  leaves.  A 
large  number  of  the  trees,  and  much  of  the  undergrowth 
of  these  forests,  are  of  the  legume  family,  or  the  nitrogen 
gatherers  of  the  soil. 

This  decaying  of  trees  and  leaves,  and  nitrogen  gath- 
ering, has  been  going  on  for  hundreds  of  years,  thus 
storing  up  a  vast  storehouse  of  precious  elements  of  rich 
soil.  Is  it  any  wonder  then  that  lands  when  first  cleared 
of  the  virgin  forest  were  so  rich  ? 

Continued  cultivation  of  cleared  lands  without  the  ad- 
dition of  anything  to  reproduce  these  original  elements 
has  exhausted  them  from  our  soil,  and  until  we  can  get 
them  back  into  the  soil  again,  our  lands,  lacking  in  these 
elements,  will  become  more  worthless  as  the  years  go  by. 

When  we  consider  that  it  took  centuries  to  put  large 
quantities  of  nitrogen,  organic  matter  and  humus  into 
our  soils,  it  seems  an  impossible  task  to  get  back  into 
these  soils  again  within  a  short  time  the  quantities  of 
nitrogen,  organic  matter  and  humus  that  took  so  long  to 
put  there  in  the  first  instance. 

Barnyard  manure  will  put  these  elements  back  into  the 
soil  quicker  than  any  other  known  agency,  but  this  rem- 


24  SOILS 

edy  is  impracticable  to  use  on  a  large  scale,  because 
sufficient  quantities  of  manure  cannot  be  obtained. 

Commercial  fertilizers  will  not  do  the  work  for  the 
chief  reason  that  they  do  not  contain  the  humus,  and 
organic  matter,  and  for  the  further  reason  that  the  min- 
eral matter  in  the  soil  is  sufficiently  dissolved  by  coming 
in  contact  with  water  and  moisture  to  furnish  the  needs 
of  plant  growth.  This  dissolution  is  continued  in  suffi- 
cient amounts  to  keep  up  the  necessary  supply  of  min- 
erals, and  so  the  adding  of  commercial  fertilizers  will  not, 
as  a  rule,  add  to  the  supply  of  plant  food  in  the  soil. 

It  is  said  that  there  is  enough  nitrogen  in  the  air  over 
an  acre  of  ground  to  grow  75  bushels  of  corn  per  acre 
per  year  for  600,000  years,  but  the  nitrogen  is  of  no 
value  to  the  soil  unless  it  is  drawn  into  it  from  the  air, 
so  that  the  plant  in  the  soil  can  assimilate  it  into  its  sys- 
tem and  thus  secure  the  element  that  makes  vigor  of 
growth.  But  soils  need  humus  and  organic  matter  as 
well  as  nitrogen. 

We  are  hearing  much  of  the  "  Volusia  soils,"  so  named 
from  a  village  in  New  York  where  first  noticed. 

A  writer  speaking  of  these  soils  says :  "  They  are 
worn  and  unproductive,  extend  from  the  Hudson  river 
westward  across  the  state  through  Pennsylvania  into 
Ohio.  Ten  million  acres,  most  part  too  poor  to  grow 
clover  without  fertilizers,  are  unfit  for  cultivation.  They 
once  produced  good  crops ;  fine  old  houses  and  barns 
occupy  them,  which  are  now  unoccupied.  These  lands 
dressed  with  liberal  quantities  of  stable  manure  produce 
good  crops.  It  is  said  that  if  these  soils  are  drained, 
supplied  with  organic  matter  and  their  acidity  corrected 


SOILS  25 

so  that  bacteria  can  thrive  in  them,  they  become  again 
productive.  In  fine,  these  soils  need  drainage,  organic 
matter  in  the  form  of  manure,  green  crops  plowed  under 
and  application  of  lime.  It  is  said  that  these  lands  can- 
not get  manure  because  they  will  not  support  stock," 

Are  not  millions  of  acres  of  our  soil  in  other  states  of 
the  Union  becoming  Volusiaized  ?  And  is  not  the  secret 
of  their  restoration  contained  in  the  application  to  them 
of  drainage  and  organic  matter? 


CHAPTER  II 

DRAINAGE 

NO  soil  can  be  put  in  good  tilth  without  thorough 
drainage. 
As  well  try  to  grow  most  crops  with  "  wet 
feet "  as  to  attempt  to  grow  them  on  hot  desert  soils.  In 
both  instances  they  will  die,  because  they  are  out  of  their 
proper  environment. 

Moisture  you  must  have  to  grow  crops,  but  moisture 
overdone,  un-does. 

It  is  as  necessary  for  plant  roots  to  breathe  as  human 
beings ;  shut  off  soil  ventilation  and  you  shut  off  free 
oxygen  from  reaching  the  plant  roots,  and  the  plant  dies. 

There  can  be  no  soil  ventilation  when  the  soil  is  cold, 
compact  and  saturated  with  water.  Hence  the  impor- 
tance of  drainage,  and  thorough  drainage. 

Drainage  is  of  more  importance  to  worn-out  soils  than 
it  is  to  new  soils.  New  soils  are  porous  and  water  will 
easily  percolate  through  them. 

Worn-out  soils  are  hard,  compact  and  non-porous. 
They  are  absolutely  incapable  of  affording  ventilation  to 
plant  roots. 

Drainage  is  one  of  the  most  effective  methods  of  get- 
ting this  needful  soil  ventilation. 

The  more  drainage  in  worn-out  soils  the  better ;  no 
matter  whether  water  is  on  the  land  or  not,  put  into  them 
27 


28  DRAINAGE 

as  much  ditching  as  you  can.  There  is  no  danger  of 
getting  too  many  drains. 

Ditches  give  the  proper  temperature  to  the  soil,  pro- 
mote soil  ventilation  and  conserve  soil  moisture. 

Most  heavy  soils  are  compact  and  cold,  the  tempera- 
ture in  them  is  too  low,  and  the  soil  ventilation  too  in- 
adequate to  be  conducive  to  plant  growth.  There  is  no 
room  in  them  for  plant  roots  to  perform  their  proper 
functions. 

Lands  improperly  drained  are  slow  in  drying  out,  and 
seeding  them  is  delayed  beyond  the  proper  season  for 
planting,  thus  giving  a  shorter  growing  season. 

It  takes  more  labor  to  till  cold,  compact,  non-drained 
soils.     All  kinds  of  soils  are  benefited  by  drainage. 

Drainage,  figuratively  speaking,  opens  up  the  pores  of 
the  soils  so  that  water  from  rains  and  snows  will  quickly 
enter  and  percolate  through  them,  down  to  the  drains 
rather  than  over  the  surface,  preventing  to  a  large  extent 
the  disastrous  results  of  soil  washing. 

Drainage  will  also  prevent  the  standing  of  water  in  the 
low  places  of  our  farms  and  thus  eliminate  the  soured, 
heavy  soils  found  in  such  spots. 

The  greatest  advantage  to  be  obtained  by  plenty  of 
drainage  is  the  putting  of  the  soil  in  that  condition  of 
porosity,  deepness  and  pulverization,  as  will  prevent 
droughts  as  well  as  floods. 

In  a  thoroughly  ditched  soil,  plant  roots  at  once  strike 
deep  where  they  are  safe  from  the  onsets  of  summer 
droughts. 

The  experience  of  years  has  been  that  well-drained 


DRAINAGE  29 

soils  produce  better  crops  in  wet  or  dry  seasons  than  the 
undrained  soils,  and  experience  has  also  shown  that  worn 
soils  cannot  be  reclaimed  until  they  are  first  well  ditched. 

In  the  light  of  this  experience,  I  cannot  too  strongly 
impress  upon  my  readers  that  we  must  first  thoroughly 
drain  our  soils  if  we  would  build  them  up  to  a  fertile 
stage. 

All  drains  should  be  so  constructed  as  to  be  open  at 
both  ends,  as  a  drain  so  constructed  will  act  like  a  chim- 
ney; the  air  will  go  into  one  end  and  out  the  other,  and 
the  air  thus  passing  through  the  drain  in  dry  weather  is 
condensed  into  moisture,  which  is  thrown  out  into  the 
soil,  made  porous  by  drain  construction,  and  thus  fur- 
nishes moisture  to  the  plant  roots. 

The  source  of  all  drains  should  terminate  in  some 
fence  row  close  to  the  fence,  the  tile  brought  up  to  the 
surface  of  the  ground  and  properly  screened  to  prevent 
animals,  weeds,  sticks,  or  foreign  substances  from  enter- 
ing the  drain. 

The  mouth  of  drains  should  be  kept  open  at  all  times 
and  screened  in  the  same  manner.  Such  a  ditch  is  the 
most  valuable  asset  on  the  farm. 

Drains  should  be  constructed  of  not  less  than  six-inch 
tile,  and  need  not  ordinarily  exceed  four  feet  in  depth, 
but  no  fixed  rule  as  to  depth  of  drain  can  be  given,  as 
the  undulating  character  of  the  soil  and  the  outlet  must 
govern  the  depth.  Where  lands  are  too  deeply  tiled 
there  is  likely  to  be  a  waste  of  water. 

In  constructing  drains,  the  idea  of  soil  ventilation  must 
be  kept  in  mind,  so  it  does  not  matter  in  all  cases  whether 


30  DRAINAGE 

a  drain  will  carry  water  or  not;  it  is  useful  if  it  only 
afTords  ventilation,  provided  both  ends  of  the  drain  are 
open. 

The  Soils  and  Crops  department  of  Purdue  University 
Experiment  station,  in  their  experiments  of  tiled  and  un- 
tiled lands,  show  an  average  yield  of  76.1  bushels  of 
corn  per  acre  on  tiled  land  and  61.8  bushels  per  acre  on 
untiled  land,  or  a  difference  of  14.3  bushels  in  favor  of 
the  tiled  land. 

This  is  a  money  value  of  $7.15  per  acre  with  corn  sell- 
ing at  fifty  cents  per  bushel. 

This  experiment  speaks  volumes  for  drainage  and 
shows  that  a  system  of  good  drainage  can  soon  be  paid 
for  out  of  the  increased  yield  of  crops  which  it  will  pro- 
duce. 

At  a  cost  of  less  than  six  dollars  per  acre  the  author 
constructed  a  mile  of  eight  and  ten  inch  cement  tile 
drain  on  his  "  Vetch fal fa  Farm,"  and  the  larger  portion 
of  same  was  of  ten  inch  tile  placed  at  an  average  depth 
of  six  feet  in  order  to  secure  an  outlet. 

This  system  of  drainage  installed  by  the  author  con- 
sists of  one  main  line  or  outlet  of  ten  inch  tile,  running 
through  the  center  of  the  farm  nearly  one-half  mile  in 
length,  with  manholes  provided  with  iron  tops  with  open- 
ings for  admission  of  water  and  air.  Laterals  are  run 
out  from  both  sides  of  the  main  line  to  the  outer  bound- 
ary lines  of  the  farm  and  brought  up  to  the  surface  of 
the  ground  close  up  to  the  fences  and  the  opening 
screened  to  keep  out  trash  or  animals. 

This  method  of  tile  drainage  construction  enables  a 
surplus  of  water  to  quickly  pass  away  and  affords  a  per- 


DRAINAGE  31 

feet  system  of  air  passage  in  dry  weather,  the  advantages 
of  which  has  heretofore  been  shown. 

In  this  system  of  drainage,  cement  tile  were  used  be- 
cause such  tile  are  more  porous  than  other  kinds,  and 
water  and  air  readily  pass  through  them. 


CHAPTER  III 

ORGANIC    MATTER 

IT  is  of  great  importance  to  crop  production  that 
there  be  plenty  of  organic  matter  in  the  soil. 
I  have  shown  why  newly  cleared  soils  were  so 
rich  in  fertility  —  they  are  rich  in  organic  matter. 

Good  authorities  say  that  organic  matter  in  the  soil 
absorbs  three  times  as  much  water  as  its  weight  in  clay, 
and  retains  it  twice  as  long,  and  five  times  as  much  as 
sand  and  retains  it  five  times  as  long. 

There  is  no  danger  of  getting  too  much  organic  matter 
into  the  soil.  An  acre  of  land  twelve  inches  deep  weighs 
2,000  tons.  It  would  take  100  tons  of  organic  matter 
plowed  under  every  two  or  three  years  to  make  one- 
twentieth  part  of  the  2,000  tons. 

For  a  soil  to  be  in  its  highest  stage  of  fertility  it  must 
contain  germ  life  and  bacteria.  These  are  always  found 
in  their  greater  abundance  within  the  first  six  inches  of 
soil,  and  they  get  their  food  from  organic  matter. 

As  they  cannot  get  any  feeding  matter  from  the  min- 
erals of  the  soil,  they  cannot  exist  in  any  soil  lacking  in 
organic  matter. 

In  virgin  soils  they  are  found  in  abundance,  where 
they  reach  the  highest  stage  of  development. 

This  germ  life  and  bacteria  in  the  soil  play  an  impor- 
35 


36  ORGANIC  MATTER 

tant  part  in  preparing  the  soil,  or  putting  it  in  the  proper 
condition  for  plant  growth. 

They  are  the  little  constant  workers  in  Nature's  lab- 
oratory, that  compound  and  distribute  the  substances 
needed  for  plant  food.  They  cleanse  the  soil  of  its  of- 
fensive accumulations  and  are  one  of  the  best  aids  to 
successful  agriculture. 

It  has  been  said  that  land  without  organic  matter  is 
but  the  skeleton  of  the  soil,  and  that  the  organic  matter 
makes  the  flesh. 

The  system  of  farming  in  vogue  in  the  United  States 
for  the  past  one  hundred  years  has  farmed  out  of  the 
soils  most  all  the  organic  matter  originally  in  them.  It 
has  stripped  the  body  of  its  flesh  and  nothing  but  the 
skeleton  remains. 

For  instance,  the  average  farmer  will  one  year  plant  a 
field  in  corn.  The  next  season  he  will  break,  rake  and 
burn  every  stalk  and  put  it  in  corn  again.  In  the  fall 
he  will  sow  wheat  in  the  corn.  The  next  season  he  will 
break  the  ground  and  put  in  wheat  again;  perhaps  he 
will  sow  clover  in  the  wheat  in  the  spring.  If  the  clover 
is  a  good  stand,  the  next  season  he  will  remove  from  the 
field  not  only  the  first  clover  crop  but  also  the  seed  crop, 
and  the  following  spring  break  up  for  corn  again,  and 
continue  on  and  on  this  same  process. 

This  is  regarded  good  farming.  They  tell  us  it  is 
crop  rotation,  and  builds  up  our  farms.  Yet  I  say  to 
you,  that  under  this  very  system  our  farms  have  grown 
and  are  growing  poorer  every  year.  That  the  organic 
matter  in  the  soil  is  becoming  less  and  less,  and  why? 


ORGANIC  MATTER  37 

Because  not  sufficient  organic  matter  is  being  added  to 
the  soil  to  keep  up  the  necessary  supply. 

The  corn  stalks  were  in  the  majority  of  cases  burned 
and  destroyed ;  the  wheat  stubble  with  its  roots  was  in- 
significant. Both  crops  of  clover  were  removed,  leaving 
nothing  but  stubble  and  roots,  which  are  insignificant. 

In  all  these  years  more  organic  matter  was  removed 
than  added  to  the  soil,  and  the  supply  of  humus  was 
gradually  being  exhausted. 

What  about  the  fields  that  have  been  planted  each 
year  to  corn  for  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  and  even  seventy 
years,  and  stalks  removed  and  burned  each  year?  And 
what  about  the  many  fields  rotated  with  corn,  oats  and 
wheat  only,  and  the  stalks  and  stubbles  in  most  cases 
burned  ? 

Vegetable  matter  destroyed  by  burning  resolves  into 
air  from  90  to  99  per  cent,  of  its  organic  parts. 

If  this  be  true,  then  the  value  of  the  ashes  obtained 
from  burning  vegetation  is  too  small  to  be  considered. 

Standing  in  the  receding  twilight  of  an  April  even- 
ing, I  have  seen  the  entire  visible  horizon  of  the  famous 
Wabash  Valley  aglow  with  the  reflection  from  the  fires 
of  burning  corn  stalks,  raked  up  into  windrows,  from 
thousands  of  acres  of  soil,  that  needed  the  humus, 
potash  and  nitrogen  abounding  in  these  stalks,  but 
which  was  going  up  in  smoke,  to  be  lost  forever  to 
these  acres  of  soil  that  are  fast  losing  their  fertility. 
As  I  looked  upon  this  thoughtless  and  almost  criminal 
destruction  of  soil  fertility,  I  saw  in  my  imagination 
pictured  in  the  reflected  light  upon  the  sky,  pictures  of 


38  ORGANIC  MATTER 

"  Agricultural  Bankruptcy  "  and  "  Abandoned  Farms," 
and  as  I  beheld  this  pictured  doom  of  the  American 
farm,  I  exclaimed:  When,  oh  when,  will  the  American 
farmer  come  into  a  realization  of  this  awful  destruc- 
tion of  soil  wealth? 

One  day  in  the  spring  of  1909,  while  directing  some 
work  on  my  farm,  I  noticed  to  the  north  great  clouds 
of  smoke  and  flame  covering  a  large  area.  I  wondered 
what  could  be  burning.  The  conflagration  was  too 
large  for  burning  corn  stalks  or  buildings.  Later  in 
the  day  I  learned  that  a  farmer  (?)  had  touched  a 
match  to  a  forty-acre  field  of  dry  Big  English  clover 
grown  on  the  ground  the  previous  season  and  left  uncut. 

When  I  learned  of  this  conscienceless  destruction  of 
soil  fertility,  I  said  in  my  wrath :  The  match  in  the 
hands  of  the  American  farmer  is  a  menace  to  the  farm. 

In  the  growing  of  this  clover  and  leaving  it  uncut  to 
cover  the  ground  through  the  leaching  season  of  fall, 
winter  and  spring,  this  farmer  had  taken  the  first  and 
an  important  lesson  in  soil  restoration.  But  his  second 
and  best  lesson  was  left  unlearned. 

Think  what  it  would  have  meant  to  that  soil  and  that 
farmer  had  that  splendid  crop  of  organic  matter,  so 
full  of  the  precious  soil  elements,  nitrogen  and  humus, 
been  turned  under  by  the  plow. 

Think  how  the  little  rootlets  of  the  corn  would  have 
reveled  in  this  mass  of  organic  matter,  mixed  with  the 
soil  and  drawing  from  it  into  the  com  system  those 
elements  that  make  that  sturdiness  of  growth  that  pro- 
duces a  heavy  paying  crop  on  the  farm. 

Again,  think  of  the  financial  loss  to  that  farmer  from 


ORGANIC  MATTER  39 

the  destruction  of  the  clover.  For  it  has  been  estimated 
that  the  potash,  phosphoric  acid  and  nitrogen  in  a  ton 
of  clover  hay  is  worth  $17.57  for  manure.  There  was 
not  less  than  a  ton  of  clover  hay  on  each  acre  of  the 
forty-acre  field,  worth  a  total  of  $702.80  plowed  under 
for  manure. 

The  farmer's  only  excuse  for  burning  was  that  the 
clover  was  so  heavy  that  it  could  not  be  plowed  under. 
This  we  dispute.  The  right  kind  of  a  double-disc  plow 
would  have  turned  it  under  nicely.  Of  course  the  plow 
would  have  occasionally  choked  up,  and  it  would  have 
taken  longer  to  plow  the  field,  but  it  would  have  been 
well  worth  the  time  and  extra  labor,  for  the  farmer 
would  have  secured  for  this  field  a  fertility  that  would 
have  yielded  him  large  returns. 

The  same  excuse  that  this  farmer  made  for  burning 
the  clover,  is  made  for  burning  corn  stalks ;  that  is, 
they  cannot  be  plowed  under  so  as  not  to  interfere 
with  the  cultivation  of  corn  and  other  crops.  This  we 
also  dispute.  We  have  turned  under  the  rankest  kind 
of  growth  of  corn  stalks  that  never  were  pastured,  with 
an  ordinary  walking  plow  and  log  chain.  Of  course, 
some  stalks  were  left  sticking  out  of  the  ground  and 
in  the  cultivation  of  crops  an  occasional  hill  of  corn 
was  jerked  out  of  the  ground  by  the  cultivator  catching 
on  the  stalks  insufficiently  plowed  under,  but  what  of 
that?  The  loss  of  a  few  hills  of  corn  is  nothing  com- 
pared to  the  great  loss  of  the  stalks  if  destroyed  by 
burning. 

An  instance  is  given  of  two  farmers  owning  farms 
side  by  side,  one  of  whom  always  gathered  up  his  corn 


40  ORGANIC  MATTER 

stalks  and  burned  them.  The  other  never  allowed  a 
stalk  or  a  straw  to  be  burned  on  his  land.  After  fifteen 
years  the  former  farmer's  farm  yielded  fifteen  bushels 
of  corn  less  to  the  acre  than  when  he  first  commenced 
farming  it,  while  the  latter's  farm  produced  as  well  as 
it  did  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteen  years. 

One  hundred  bushels  of  corn  contains  about  loo 
pounds  of  nitrogen,  17  pounds  of  phosphorus  and  19 
pounds  of  potassium. 

The  stalks  upon  which  the  100  bushels  of  corn  grew 
contain  about  48  pounds  of  nitrogen,  6  pounds  of  phos- 
phorus and  52  pounds  of  potassium.  All  these  ele- 
ments in  the  stalks  have  a  money  value  of  $11.04. 

These  elements  in  the  corn  itself  are  lost  to  the  soil 
if  the  corn  be  sold,  but  that  in  the  stalks  can  be  saved 
to  the  soil  if  the  stalks  are  not  burned  but  are  plowed 
under. 

In  the  black  prairies  of  Illinois  and  Iowa  and  the 
rich  river  bottom  lands  of  Indiana,  are  vast  acres  of 
land  that  used  to  produce  an  average  crop  of  sixty  or 
more  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre.  The  average  is  now 
less  than  forty  bushels  to  the  acre. 

The  virgin  richness  of  these  lands  could  have  been 
continued  simply  by  the  plowing  under  of  the  corn 
stalks  grown  on  them. 

The  American  farmer  must  learn  the  lesson  of  getting 
organic  matter  into  his  soil  or  his  farm  is  doomed. 

We  must  learn  the  lesson  that  the  restoration  of  or- 
ganic matter  to  the  soil  is  the  only  way  to  increase  its 
crop-producing  power. 

That  no  soil  is  complete  without  it.     That  the  very 


ORGANIC  MATTER  41 

nature  of  organic  matter  is  to  bind  the  soil  grains  to- 
gether, absorb  and  hold  large  quantities  of  moisture, 
prevent  the  washing  and  blowing  of  the  surface,  besides 
furnishing  the  food  for  bacteria  and  depositing  into 
the  soil  nitrogen  and  other  needful  soil  elements. 

When  we  have  well  learned  this  lesson,  then  will  our 
farms  be  freed  from  the  curse  of  worn-out  soils. 

Nature  understood  her  business  when  she  covered  our 
lands  with  forests  and  the  vast  prairies  with  large  grow- 
ing grasses,  so  that  the  decay  of  tree  trunks,  limbs, 
leaves  and  grasses  would  intermingle  with  the  sand  and 
the  clay  and  thus  produce  the  rich  lands  for  the  farmer, 
but  the  farmer  has  not  learned  the  lesson  that  when  he 
gets  away  from  Nature's  ways  of  soil  building  he  is 
heading  towards  the  doom  of  soil  exhaustion. 

We  are  so  apt  to  do  things  as  our  fathers  did,  forget- 
ting that  our  fathers  lived  under  different  environments 
than  we  do. 

The  pioneer  farmer  had  the  soil  in  its  original  fresh- 
ness and  had  no  need  of  building  it  up.  It  was  rich 
enough.  The  children  were  by  this  pioneer,  who  was 
not  bound  by  any  necessity  of  a  change  of  farming 
methods,  taught  the  simple  lesson  of  farming  just  as 
he  did. 

But  when  the  land  fell  into  the  inheritance  of  the 
children's  children  it  had  almost  reached  the  point  of 
soil  exhaustion,  and  the  children's  children  being 
bound  with  the  cords  of  environment,  lacked  sufficient 
will  or  mental  power  to  break  them,  and  kept  on  farm- 
ing as  their  fathers  did,  thus  showing  the  great  strength 
and  influence  of  environment. 


42  ORGANIC  MATTER 

It  is  said  that  in  the  magic  transformation  of  dirt  on 
the  farm  into  dollars  no  one  is  robbed.  True  —  if  the 
one  who  touches  the  soil  with  the  magic  wand  is  not  a 
soil  robber.  But  the  wand  in  the  hands  of  a  soil  robber 
plunders  all  mankind  alike,  and  as  some  one  has  said  in 
thought,  Mother  Earth,  resenting  the  infamy  heaped 
upon  her  and  her  people,  bears  the  pain  in  silence  but 
inflicts  the  awful  punishment  that  falls  on  all  alike,  by 
withdrawing  her  bounty. 


PROPERTY  OF 

K&m.collegfmrrary; 


CHAPTER  IV 

SOIL  VENTILATION 

I  HAVE  said  something  of  soil  ventilation  and  that 
plants  cannot  thrive  without  it.  I  have  also  said 
that  plant  roots  must  breathe  or  the  plant  will 
die. 

If  soil  is  so  compact  that  air  cannot  enter  it,  the 
plant  is  injured  as  much  as  if  it  had  no  water. 

Entirely  exclude  oxygen  from  seeds  placed  in  the 
soil  and  you  get  no  growth.  If  you  have  some  ventila- 
tion but  not  enough,  then  you  have  the  sickly  plant. 
It  is  said  that  "  a  plant  lacking  in  root  breathing  is 
drowned  as  effectively  as  an  animal  would  be  under 
water,  because  enough  free  oxygen  cannot  reach  them." 
Insufficient  ventilation  resulting  from  poor  drainage 
destroys  organic  matter  in  the  soil. 

Sufficient  soil  ventilation  produces  the  necessary  ni- 
trates in  the  soil  and  prevents  their  destruction  as  well. 

Air  must  penetrate  deeply  into  the  soil,  and  the  pas- 
sage of  the  air  must  be  both  in  and  out  of  the  soil. 

Soils  underlaid  with  coarse  gravel,  sandy  and  light 
soils,  are  generally  strong  on  ventilation,  while  compact 
clay  and  heavy  soils  are  short  on  ventilation. 

Soil  is  said  to  be  a  living  thing.  But  it  is  only  alive 
when  it  is  full  of  organic  matter  and  porous  veins,  so 
45 


46  SOIL  VENTILATION 

that  it  can  breathe  from  the  air  the  gases  needed  by 
the  plant  root. 

Tuberculosis  enters  our  insufficiently  ventilated  homes 
and  soil  exhaustion  enters  upon  the  compact,  non-porous 
soils. 

We  must  ventilate  our  homes  if  we  live,  and  this  is 
as  applicable  to  the  soil  as  it  is  to  man. 

Soil  ventilation  can  be  secured  by  drainage,  deep 
tillage  and  plowing  in,  of  course,  organic  matter.  Cer- 
tain plants,  like  the  alfalfa  plant,  penetrate  their  roots 
deep  into  the  soil  and  when  they  decay  leave  openings 
into  which  air  finds  its  way.  Next  to  drainage,  soil 
ventilation  is  best  secured  by  the  plowing  under  of  heavy 
crops  of  organic  matter,  such  as  corn  stalks,  rye,  vetch, 
buckwheat,  hungarian,  clover,  etc. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  a  soil  filled  with  water 
cannot  possibly  breathe,  neither  can  a  close,  compact 
soil,  so  a  soil  may  be  fairly  well  drained  and  yet  not 
be  properly  ventilated ;  hence  the  need  of  organic  matter 
to  aid  in  soil  ventilation. 

The  necessity  for  soil  ventilation  is  not  only  that 
oxygen  may  come  in  contact  with  the  plant  roots,  but 
that  a  proper  home  may  be  established  in  the  soil  for 
the  vast  multitude  of  bacteria,  so  that  they  can  perform 
their  work  of  changing  the  nitrogen  of  decaying  organic 
matter  into  a  form  suitable  for  plant  food. 

It  seems  that  bacteria  in  the  soil  are  afifected  by  en- 
vironment as  well  as  man,  so  conditions  of  the  soil  will 
influence  and  modify  their  growth. 

Soil  bacteria  being  essential  to  a  good,  living,  work- 
ing soil,  then  we  can  see  the  need  of  effective  soil  ventila- 


SOIL  VENTILATION  47 

tion  so  that  the  soil  may  be  put  in  that  condition  that 
these  bacteria  may  best  develop  and  flourish. 

When  soil  is  in  such  condition  it  can  be  truthfully 
said  that  it  is  indeed  a  living  thing  and  is  only  in  the 
proper  condition  to  give  its  best  service  in  growing 
crops  for  the  farmer. 


CHAPTER  V 


THAT  proper  plowing  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant steps  in  soil  building  is  apparent  on 
close  study. 

That  soil  is  improved  by  stirring  is  a  truth  only  de- 
nied by  the  ignorant  and  unobserving  man.  It  is  one 
of  Nature's  ways  of  aiding  in  soil  building.  The  plows 
and  cultivators  of  Nature  are  the  roots  of  trees  and 
plants. 

In  the  spring  and  growing  seasons  of  the  year,  if  one 
could  see  into  the  soil  covered  with  the  forests  and  vege- 
tation, he  would  see  the  roots  shooting  out  and  down 
into  the  soil  as  animated  beings,  and  as  they  grow  in 
size  he  would  see  the  soil  loosened  up  by  their  action, 
and  the  pushing  this  way  and  that  way  of  the  roots  and 
rootlets  stirs  the  soil  more  effectively  than  if  stirred  by 
the  plow. 

This  observation  of  one  of  Nature's  ways  shows  the 
importance  of  soil  stirring. 

I  claim  that  soil  should  be  stirred  frequently.  If  it 
were  possible  to  break  up  soils  several  times  a  year, 
their  fertility  would  be  increased. 

It  is  one  of  Nature's  ways  to  be  busy.  She  is  never 
idle.  Nature  will  not  allow  soil  to  be  idle,  except  in 
the  winter  season. 

51 


52  PLOWING 

If  soil  is  not  occupied  with  growing  crops,  then 
Nature  starts  the  weeds  and  grasses  to  occupy  and 
cover  the  soil,  and  from  this  an  important  lesson  is 
to  be  learned  in  successful  soil  cultivation.  Keep  your 
soil  occupied  with  some  useful  crop.  It  takes  as  much 
plant  food  to  grow  weeds  as  to  grow  corn.  Then  why 
not  plow  or  stir  our  ground  after  a  crop  is  removed 
and  plant  to  some  crop  of  fertilizing  value,  and  secure 
the  great  benefits  of  weed  eradication,  soil  stirring,  or- 
ganic and  fertilizing  matter. 

It  is  said  that  "  tillage  is  a  manure,"  that  "  frequent 
tillage  is  our  best  and  cheapest  manure,"  that  "  tillage 
and  manure  are  one  and  the  same  thing." 

Old  Rome  was  once  noted  for  its  high  state  of  agri- 
culture, and  the  old  Roman  farmer  plowed  his  land 
never  less  than  three,  and  some  times  nine  times  for  a 
single  crop.  And  after  the  dark  ages  the  Flemish 
farmer  was  a  strong  believer  in  frequent  pulverization 
of  the  soil.  And  upon  this  principle  England  has  con- 
structed an  agriculture  that  reclaimed  her  worn-out  soil 
and  made  it  increase  its  productive  power  nearly  four- 
fold. 

Plowing  and  stirring  the  soil  mixes  the  organic  matter 
with  the  minerals  in  the  soil,  affords  better  ventilation, 
gives  the  soil  better  ability  to  store  up  and  deliver 
moisture  to  the  growing  crops,  and  gives  more  room 
for  the  plant  roots  to  perform  their  proper  functions. 

There  is  a  time  to  plow  and  a  right  and  a  wrong  way 
to  plow. 

The  plowing  or  stirring  of  ground,  no  matter  what 


PLOWING  55 

its  character,  when  too  wet  is  a  crime  against  Nature's 
laws,  and  punishment  follows,  quick  and  sure. 

The  passing  of  the  plow  through  the  soil  presses  the 
soil  grains  together  until  the  soil  turned  over  becomes 
dense  and  impervious  to  water  or  plant  roots.  The  soil 
thus  turned  over  becomes  like  unburnt  bricks  dried  in  the 
sun,  and  ventilation  is  completely  shut  off.  Its  use- 
fulness as  a  home  for  plant  roots  is  destroyed. 

And  even  if  the  surface  soil  be  sufficiently  dry  but 
the  subsoil  too  wet,  the  passing  of  the  plow  through 
the  soil  will  press  the  soil  together  under  the  plow  and 
we  get  a  compact  stratum  of  earth  below  the  top  soil 
which  will  hold  water  above  it  and  prevent  moisture 
rising  when  needed. 

All  this  shows  the  importance  of  plowing  at  the  right 
time  and  with  the  right  kind  of  plow. 

There  has  been  great  evolution  in  breaking  plows ;  we 
have  many  kinds  and  makes.  The  writer  has  tested  all 
kinds  and  is  convinced  that  the  disc  plow  is  the  best  of 
all. 

A  disc  plow  will  plow  soil  that  no  other  plow  will. 
It  is  the  only  plow  that  will  successfully  turn  under  corn 
stalks  and  heavy  masses  of  organic  matter  and  thor- 
oughly incorporate  it  into  the  soil. 

The  furrow  slice  plowed  by  a  disc  plow  is  broken  off 
from  the  soil  below,  thus  preventing  the  pressing  to- 
gether of  the  soil  grains. 

Any  other  kind  of  a  plow  in  passing  through  the  soil 
smooths  or  slicks  the  bottom  of  the  furrow  slice,  and 
the  bottom  of  the  furrow,  which  interferes  with  soil 
ventilation  and  the  rising  of  moisture. 


56  PLOWING 

A  disc  plow  does  not  throw  the  soil  from  the  bottom 
of  the  furrow  slice  on  top.  It  stirs  and  loosens  the  soil 
to  the  depth  plowed,  completely  covering  all  organic 
matter  to  be  plowed  under,  yet  does  not  bring  the  sub- 
soil to  the  surface;  so  it  is  always  safe  to  plow  any 
depth  possible  to  be  plowed  with  the  disc  plow. 

The  disc  plow  pulverizes  the  soil  as  it  turns  it  over, 
which  no  other  plow  will  do,  and  its  draft  is  lighter. 

When  the  author  began  to  use  double  disc  plows  on 
his  farm,  using  three  horses  only,  and  plowing  two 
twelve  inch  furrows  an  average  depth  of  eight  inches, 
the  neighboring  farmers  characteristically  condemned 
them  at  sight,  denouncing  them  as  "  horse  killers." 
And  though  he  continued  to  use  them  several  years, 
yet  these  farmers  took  no  pains  to  investigate  their 
merits  and  continued  to  condemn.  But  the  author 
knew  their  merits  and  paid  no  attention  to  the  farmers' 
comments,  and  after  using  them  several  years,  one  spring 
he  employed  a  neighbor  negro  farmer  to  plow  for  a  few 
days.  The  negro  came  to  work  at  noon  with  two 
horses  expecting  to  hitch  to  a  walking  plow.  The 
author  gave  him  one  of  his  horses  and  directed  that 
he  hitch  it  with  his  two  horses  to  one  of  his  double 
disc  plows  then  standing  in  a  field  where  it  had  been 
in  use,  and  also  telling  him  that  the  plow  was  properly 
adjusted  and  all  he  had  to  do  was  to  just  plow.  The 
author  then  walked  off,  noticing  however,  that  the  negro 
looked  as  though  he  wanted  to  make  some  objection  or 
protest.  The  author  returned  in  the  evening  just  before 
quitting  time  and  the  following  conversation  took 
place : 


PLOWING  57 

(Author) — "  Well  Harvey,  how  have  you  been  getting 
along  since  I've  been  gone?  " 

(Negro) — "Fin',  sah!  Fin',  sah!  Say,  Boss,  dey's 
don'  bin  lyin'  'bout  dis  plow." 

(Author) — "  Why,  Harvey,  it  is  strange  that  any  one 
should  lie  about  an  innocent  looking  plow  like  that,  I 
don't  see  how  they  could  tell  anything  bad  about  it." 

(Negro) — "Well,  dey's  bin  lyin'  'bout  dis  plow  and  a 
sayin'  dat  it  is  a  boss  killer." 

(Author) — "  Well,  Harvey,  has  it  killed  your 
horses  ?  " 

(Negro) — "  No,  sah!  It  hain't  no  hoss  killer,  it  don 
run  too  easy  fer  dat." 

I  have  plowed  with  a  disc  plow  in  the  fall  of  the  year, 
black  gumbo  soil  so  hard  that  a  steel  walking  plow 
could  not  be  made  to  enter  into  it,  and  I  have  with  a 
disc  plow  turned  under  weeds  higher  than  the  horses' 
backs  so  nicely  that  a  single  weed  could  not  be  seen  in 
the  field.  And  with  it  I  once  turned  under  a  field  of 
hairy  vetch,  heavy  in  foliage,  after  having  tried  all  other 
kinds  of  plows  and  failed  to  make  them  do  the  work. 
I  once  plowed  a  strip  fifty  feet  in  width  around  a  ten- 
acre  field  and  then  finished  breaking  the  balance  of  the 
field  with  walking  plows.  The  field  was  planted  in 
corn,  and  during  the  entire  season  the  corn  on  the  strip 
plowed  with  the  disc  plow  was  more  thrifty  than  the 
rest  of  the  field  and  at  least  a  foot  higher,  and  produced 
more  and  better  corn. 

How  deep  shall  we  plow?     Poor  Richard  said: 

"  Plow  deep  while  sluggards  sleep, 
And  you  shall  have  corn  to  sell  and  keep." 


58  PLOWING 

But  was  Poor  Richard  exercising  the  right  of  poetic 
license,  which  allows  one  to  measure  thought  in  verse 
although  the  truth  sought  to  be  conveyed  be  far 
fetched  ? 

In  determining  the  depth  to  plow,  it  is  well  to  first 
consider  why  we  plow  at  all. 

It  must  be  conceded  that  the  object  to  be  secured  in 
plowing  is  to  obtain  a  seed  bed  most  favorable  for 
plant  growth  and  development,  and  such  a  seed  bed  is 
one  that  will  hold  sufficient  moisture,  air  and  heat,  so 
that  chemical  and  germ  action  will  take  place  therein, 
that  plant  food  may  be  prepared  for  the  growing  crops. 

There  must  be  sufficient  room  for  root  development. 
And  a  deep  seed  bed  well  filled  with  organic  matter  will 
so  increase  the  storage  capacity  of  soils  for  water,  and 
so  reduce  the  effects  of  evaporation,  that  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  moisture  will  be  secured  to  bring  the  crop 
to  maturity,  no  matter  how  dry  the  season  may  be. 

A  shallow  seed  bed  cannot  possibly  hold  sufficient 
organic  matter,  moisture,  air  or  heat,  to  meet  the  needs 
of  growing  plants.  A  study  of  the  corn  root  system 
ought  to  convince  any  one  that  a  shallow  seed  bed  does 
not  meet  the  requirements  essential  to  good  corn  grow- 
ing. A  larger  space  must  be  given  for  the  roots  of 
most  any  plant. 

If  your  soil,  below  the  depth  to  which  it  has  always 
been  plowed  is  close,  compact,  or  hardpan,  the  roots 
of  plants  will  not  penetrate  it,  nor  will  they  secure  suf- 
ficient moisture.  The  deeper  the  seed  bed  the  more 
room  for  plant  roots  and  the  greater  the  supply  of  plant 
food  and  moisture. 


Oh 


w   z        i 


PLOWING  6i 

One  enterprising  farmer  in  the  Lima  Bean  belt  of 
California,  after  studying  his  soil  concluded  it  was  a 
mistake  to  merely  scratch  the  surface  as  most  farmers 
were  doing.  So  he  put  his  plows  down  twelve  inches 
and  got  under  the  hard  soil  underlying  the  usual  plowed 
surface. 

By  plowing  this  depth  he  gave  his  beans  double  depth 
for  their  roots  to  grow  and  get  nourishment.  This  they 
could  not  have  gotten  in  a  shallow  seed  bed.  He 
almost  doubled  his  crop. 

A  demonstration  of  plowing  to  a  depth  of  twelve  to 
fifteen  inches  in  the  Yazoo  Delta,  Louisiana,  in  1906, 
without  the  use  of  fertilizers,  increased  the  yield  of 
corn  from  fourteen  to  seventy  bushels  per  acre. 

And  numerous  demonstrations  and  experiments  of 
deep  plowing  throughout  the  South,  made  within  the 
last  few  years,  have  led  to  the  conclusion  that  deep 
plowing  supplemented  with  drainage  and  plenty  of  or- 
ganic matter,  is  the  true  method  of  building  up  and 
maintaining  soil  fertility. 

In  ancient  times  the  Romans  plowed  to  an  average 
depth  of  nine  inches. 

The  Flemish  farmers  plowed  deep,  and  the  chief 
stone  in  England's  foundation  for  an  improved  agricul- 
ture was  deep  plowing  and  soil  pulverization. 

The  Orangeburg  fine  sandy  loams  found  within  the 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  Coastal  Plains  from  Southeastern 
North  Carolina  to  West  Central  Texas,  are  freed  to  a 
great  extent  from  the  danger  of  erosion  by  deeper  plow- 
ing supplemented  with  the  use  of  organic  matter. 

For  years   it  was   the  custom  to   plow   these   sandy 


62  PLOWING 

loams  not  over  three  inches  in  depth.  In  later  years  it 
has  been  found  that  by  plowing  to  a  depth  of  eight  to 
nine  inches  that  crop  yields  have  been  greatly  increased. 

One  third  of  the  author's  "  Vetchfalfa  Farm "  is  a 
sandy  loam,  the  subsoil  being  a  yellow  sand  ranging  in 
depth  from  three  to  twelve  feet  with  gravel  underneath. 

When  the  author  first  came  into  the  possession  of 
this  land  he  was  cautioned  to  never  under  any  circum- 
stances plow  it  to  exceed  four  inches  in  depth  or  he 
would  "  kill  it." 

The  author  concluded  that  there  was  nothing  that 
would  pay  him  so  well  as  to  become  closely  acquainted 
with  his  own  soil.  So  he  got  next  to  this  sandy  soil 
and  studied  it.  He  found  that  below  the  plowed  depth 
the  soil,  even  though  it  was  pure  sand,  was  so  packed 
that  air  could  not  enter  it  and  plant  roots  and  moisture 
penetrated  it  with  difficulty.  He  then  concluded  that 
there  could  be  no  danger  in  plowing  this  soil  deep  so  long 
as  the  yellow  sand  below  was  not  thrown  up  on  the 
surface  by  the  plow.  So  in  the  spring  of  1910  he  de- 
cided to  "  kill "  the  poorest  tract  of  his  sandy  land  and 
ordered  the  disc  plows  to  be  set  to  plowing  as  deeply 
as  possible,  plowing  under  a  heavy  crop  of  organic 
matter.  This  tract  was  planted  to  field  corn  as  late 
as  June  3d,  yet  made  seventy-five  bushels  of  corn  to 
the  acre,  which  was  more  than  double  the  crop  that 
had  been  gathered  from  this  land  before  the  author 
purchased  it. 

Rye  was  sown  in  this  tract  in  the  corn  in  the  fall 
of  1910  and  in  the  spring  of  191 1  the  corn  stalks  and 
rye  were  plowed  under  and  as  deep  as  the  disc  plows 


Q     . 
d 


-1  s 


^   ^  I 
<u 

W    3  1 

gu  i 

i  i 

o  ; 
'-' 


PLOWING  65 

would  plow  it,  and  the  land  planted  in  sweet  corn. 
And  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  summer  of  191 1 
was  the  driest  and  hottest  experienced  for  years,  this 
corn  made  a  profitable  crop  and  a  better  crop  than  the 
best  bottom  land  on  "  Vetchfalfa  Farm." 

By  deep  plowing,  supplemented  with  the  plowing 
under  of  heavy  crops  of  organic  matter  the  author  is 
making  his  sandy  land  the  best  land  on  his  farm. 

Under  the  direction  of  the  author,  experiments  of 
deep  plowing  of  stiff  clay  lands  with  a  disc  plow  have 
been  made  for  the  past  three  or  four  years,  and  aston- 
ishing crop  yields  have  resulted. 

There  has  recently  been  invented  a  disc  plow  called 
the  "  Spalding  Tilling  Machine "  which  will  plow  any 
depth  up  to  twenty-four  inches  and  so  plows,  mixes 
and  pulverizes  the  soil  as  not  to  bring  any  of  the  soil 
from  the  bottom  of  its  furrow  to  the  surface,  yet  will 
completely  turn  and  cover  a  sufficient  depth  the  heaviest 
mass  of  organic  matter.  The  author  will  begin  the 
use  of  these  plows  the  coming  season,  believing  them 
to  be  the  most  valuable  tool  any  one  can  have  upon  the 
farm. 

In  the  first  edition  of  this  book,  in  the  chapter  on 
plowing,  the  author  said,  "  Drain  well  your  soils,  plant 
in  them  crops  for  green  manures  that  send  their  roots 
deep  down  into  the  soil,  then  it  will  only  be  necessary 
to  plow  your  soils  deep  enough  to  well  cover  the  organic 
matter  plowed  under." 

This  was  safe  advice  and  in  the  use  and  application 
of  which  no  one  could  go  wrong,  but  subsequent  exten- 
sive experiments  have  shown  the  author  that  not  every 


66  PLOWING 

green  manuring  crop  will  send  their  roots  much  below 
the  plowed  surface;  that  the  deeper  the  seed  bed,  the 
greater  its  capacity  for  root  growth,  holding  moisture 
and  compounding  plant  food ;  that  so  long  as  the  proper 
plow  is  used  in  plowing  no  danger  can  result  in  deep 
plowing,  but  rather  will  your  crop  yields  be  materially 
increased. 

Tull,  an  agricultural  writer,  claims  that  by  thoroughly 
pulverizing  the  soil  its  fertility  can  be  permanently 
maintained;  that  by  repeated  plowing  he  produced 
twelve  successive  large  crops  of  wheat  on  the  same  land 
without  manure. 

Supplement  Tull's  system  of  frequent  plowing  and 
pulverizing  the  soil  with  deep  plowing  and  the  turning 
under  of  plenty  of  organic  matter  and  you  have  the 
secret  of  building  and  keeping  up  the  fertility  of  the 
soil. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SOIL   COVERING 

TOO  much  stress  cannot  be  laid  upon  the  im- 
portance of  doing  that  to  your  soil  which  will 
keep  it  covered  during  the  season  of  fall, 
winter  and  spring,  which  is  known  as  the  leaching  sea- 
son. 

Terrific  is  the  destruction  each  year  to  soil  by  leach- 
ing. Stand  by  our  streams  and  rivers  during  their 
floodtides  and  see  the  thick  consistency  of  their  waters 
made  so  by  the  heavy  rains  that  fall  upon  the  soil,  mix- 
ing and  dissolving  its  particles  of  dust  and  litter. 

Hillsides  and  valleys  are  swept  of  their  soil  by  the 
rapid  washing  of  the  waters,  which,  as  stated,  occurs 
more  frequently  in  the  rainy  season. 

Soils  covered  by,  and  filled  with,  close-lying  herbage 
and  thickly  rooted  plants  will  not  wash  or  wear  away 
under  the  action  of  falling  water,  neither  will  such 
covered  or  root-filled  soils  be  blown  away  by  the  winds. 

H  an  estimate  could  be  made  of  the  soil  wealth  car- 
ried away  each  year  by  the  waters  falling  from  the 
clouds  and  washing  away  over  our  fields  into  our 
streams  and  rivers  to  the  sea,  and  by  the  blowing  of 
the  winds,  it  would  be  appalling. 

The  remedy  to  check  and  preserve  this  flow  of  soil 
69 


70  SOIL  COVERING 

wealth  to  the  sea,  is  keeping  our  soil,  when  not  occupied 
by  growing  crops,  covered  as  much  as  possible  with  the 
herbage  and  root-producing  plants  of  rye,  vetch,  etc. 

Covering  the  soils  with  these  crops  prevents  puddling 
of  the  soil.  The  growing  and  decaying  of  the  roots  aids 
in  depositing  the  minerals  and  in  bringing  about  the 
changes  characteristic  of  new  soils. 

The  open,  mellow  texture  of  the  soil  is  produced  by 
covering. 

Naked,  clayey  soils,  subjected  to  excessive  rains,  fol- 
lowed by  drying  winds  and  rapid  water  evaporation, 
forces  them  to  crack  open  and  their  texture  is  thus  in- 
jured. If  such  soils  are  covered,  they  are  not  subject 
to  this  process. 

It  has  been  observed  that  when  soil  is  covered  with 
any  kind  of  close  material  for  any  length  of  time,  it  is 
so  enriched  that  one  would  think  manure  had  been  ap- 
plied to  it.  Even  snow  lying  on  the  soil  for  months  en- 
riches it. 

I  have  already  shown  that  the  reason  virgin  soil  was 
so  rich  was  on  account  of  the  ages  of  covering  Nature 
gave  it. 

In  the  humid  region  it  is  noticeable  that,  if  a  fence 
row  is  neglected,  it  will  first  grow  weeds,  then  grass, 
then  the  different  species  of  trees  native  to  the  neighbor- 
hood. That,  if  after  the  course  of  only  a  few  years 
the  fence  row  is  cleaned  out  and  again  brought  into 
cultivation,  it  will  be  found  that  the  soil  is  rich  and 
that  it  will  again  produce  abundantly. 

Some  will  argue  that  the  reason  of  this  is  that  the 
land  has  had  a  period  of  rest,  forgetting  the  fact  that 


SOIL  COVERING  71 

a  soil  works  hardest  when  it  is  growing  weeds,  grasses 
and  trees. 

An  observer  of  Nature  sees  a  great  lesson  in  the 
neglected  fence  row.  It  demonstrates  Nature's  way  of 
soil  covering,  soil  building  and  soil  restoration. 

When  the  land  occupied  by  the  fence  row  was  no 
longer  cultivated  and  was  neglected  and  for  the  time 
abandoned  by  the  farmer,  Nature  took  it  in  hand  for 
rebuilding  and  first  prepared  it  for  the  growing  of 
grass  by  the  growing  of  different  kinds  of  weeds  which 
filled  and  covered  the  soil  with  the  decayed  roots  and 
tops. 

The  grass  came,  whose  roots  and  tops  furnished  addi- 
tional organic  matter  and  provided  a  soil  covering  that 
gathered  and  retained  the  nitrates. 

Then  the  little  trees  came  which  stirred  the  soil  with 
their  rapidly  growing  roots.  Some  of  the  weeds, 
grasses  and  trees  were  of  the  legume  family  and  so 
stored  the  precious  nitrogen  into  the  soil. 

The  roots  of  the  weeds  and  trees  went  down  deep 
into  the  soil  and  brought  up  potash  and  other  minerals 
which  were  stored  into  the  leaves,  branches  and  trunks, 
to  be  transferred  to  the  soil  when  they  fell  down  on  the 
soil  and  decayed.  In  this  illustration  we  have  all  the 
lessons  of  organic  matter,  soil  stirring,  soil  covering 
and  their  importance  in  restoring  worn  soil. 

The  secret  of  soil  covering  in  promoting  soil  fertility 
lies  in  the  fact  that  covered  soil  prevents  ammonia 
wastes  from  the  soil  by  evaporation,  and  the  loss  of 
nitrogen. 

To  preserve  soil  fertility,  it  must  be  kept  covered  as  \ 


•^2  SOIL  COVERING 

much  as  possible,  yet  the  system  of  farming  mostly  in 
vogue  in  America  is  to  strip  the  ground  of  every  ves- 
tige of  matter,  expose  it  to  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  the 
washing  of  rains. 

Soil  covering  is  an  important  lesson  we  American 
farmers  must  learn. 

If,  after  our  fields  of  corn  were  laid  by  we  would 
sow  them  in  rye  or  vetch,  and  when  corn  is  harvested 
roll  down  the  stalks,  all  to  be  covered  with  the  snows  of 
winter,  and  no  stock  allowed  to  pasture  upon  them,  what 
a  wealth  of  fertility  would  be  gathered  under  this  cov- 
ering during  the  leaching  season. 

What  a  mass  of  rich  material  to  be  plowed  under  to 
mix  with  the  fertility  produced  by  the  covering  during 
the  season  of  rest. 

But  how  does  the  average  American  farmer  treat  his 
cornfields?  They  are  laid  by  without  any  green  crop 
planted,  the  corn  is  gathered  and  then  his  herds  of 
cattle  and  horses  turned  into  them;  and  the  fields  are 
stripped  of  their  precious  coat  of  organic  matter,  the  soil 
is  ruined  by  the  tramping,  puddling  and  exposure  to 
washing  rains  and  baking  sun. 

The  only  exception  is  when  corn  is  followed  by 
wheat,  and  then  too  often  the  fields  are  pastured  to 
their  great  injury.  If  a  farmer  has  a  stack  of  straw, 
he  will  either  burn  it  or  sell  it,  instead  of  spreading  it 
on  his  soil,  which  would  bring  him  more  money  than  the 
few  dollars  he  gets  for  it,  and  if  he  burns  it  he  has 
gained  nothing. 

I  wish  I  could  burn  it  into  every  American  farmer, 
that  he  must  cover  his  soil  if  he  would  keep  up  or  in- 
crease its  fertility. 


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• 

CHAPTER  VII 

HOW   TO   PRODUCE   AND   GET   ORGANIC    MATTER    INTO   THE 
SOIL 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  I  have  endeavored  to 
make  it  clear  that  worn  soil  cannot  be  reclaimed, 
or  the  fertility  of  any  soil  cannot  be  maintained, 
without  the  liberal  use  of  organic  matter.  Any  system 
of  farming  that  does  not  have  for  its  corner  stone  the 
liberal  use  of  organic  matter  is  a  "  delusion  and  a 
snare,"  and  will  lead  straight  to  the  worn-out  abandoned 
soils. 

I  have  shown  that  the  use  of  organic  matter  was 
Nature's  way  of  soil  building  and  so  it  must  be  our  way 
of  soil  restoration. 

The  use  of  organic  matter  being  of  so  much  im- 
portance in  aiding  and  securing  complete  drainage,  soil 
ventilation,  furnishing  food  for  soil  bacteria,  and  in  the 
general  building  up  of  all  soils,  then  how  are  we  to  pro- 
duce and  get  organic  matter  into  the  soil  ? 

Nature  has,  indeed,  done  her  part  in  furnishing  a 
great  multitude  of  plants  that  furnish  organic  matter 
in  abundance.  Her  garden  seems  to  be  full  of  them, 
and  it  is  up  to  man  to  do  his  part  and  select  irom  this 
great  storehouse  of  wealth  the  plants  that  will  serve 
him  best  for  this  purpose. 

75 


76  PRODUCING  ORGANIC  MATTER 

While  it  is  conceded  by  the  majority,  that  manure  is 
the  best  organic  matter  that  can  be  put  into  the  soil,  yet 
we  must  not  forget  that  the  average  farm  produces 
but  a  small  quantity  of  manure,  not  one-tenth  part 
enough  to  keep  up  its  fertility.  That  the  average  farmer 
does  not  have  sufficient  means  to  keep  sufficient  stock 
to  furnish  the  supply  of  manure  needed  to  rebuild  or 
maintain  fertility  of  his  farm. 

And  we  must  not  forget  that  worn-out  and  abandoned 
soils  will  not  produce  enough  food  to  feed  a  sufficient 
number  of  animals  to  produce  the  requisite  amount  to 
restore  their  fertility. 

While  the  author  has  been  a  liberal  user  of  manure 
upon  his  worn  soils,  yet  for  years  he  has  felt  that 
there  is  some  element  lacking  in  manure  that  seems  to 
be  supplied  by  the  use  of  green  manures.  Just  what 
that  element  is  he  does  not  know,  he  only  knows  that 
he  gets  better  results  from  the  plowing  under  of  those 
crops  that  are  best  for  green  manuring  than  he  does 
from  the  use  of  ordinary  barnyard  manure. 

It  is  said  by  a  high  authority  that  "  as  an  average, 
animals  digest  and  thus  destroy  two-thirds  of  the  dry 
matter  in  the  food  they  eat,  so  that  one  ton  of  clover 
hay  plowed  under  will  add  as  much  humus  to  the  soil 
as  the  manure  made  from  three  tons  of  clover  hauled 
off  and  fed,  even  if  all  the  manure  is  returned  to  the 
land  without  loss  of  fermentation." 

All  the  liquids  of  any  value  in  barnyard  manure 
originally  came  from  the  plants  and  grain  fed  to  stock 
and  these  liquids  are  the  most  valuable  part  of  manure. 

In  the  usual  methods  of  handling  manure  nearly  the 


PRODUCING  ORGANIC  MATTER    'jy 

whole  of  this  liquid  is  allowed  to  go  to  waste.  Does 
not  this  explain  why  the  author  has  gotten  better  re- 
sults from  the  use  of  green  manure  than  from  the  use 
of  barnyard  manure?  In  the  use  of  green  manures  he 
has  saved  all  the  valuable  liquids  which  the  green 
manuring  plants  assimilated  into  their  roots  and 
branches  during  their  growing  season,  and  has  also 
saved  two-thirds  of  the  dry  matter  in  these  plants  and 
thus  secured  a  greater  supply  of  organic  matter  for 
bacteria  food,  and  supplying  humus  for  the  soil. 

But  notwithstanding  this,  the  author  advises  the  use 
of  all  the  manure  you  can  get,  and  do  not  forget  to 
spare  the  match  and  plow  under  for  a  supply  of  organic 
matter  all  cornstalks,  weeds,  stubble  and  straw.  To 
get  a  further  supply,  we  must  make  certain  plants  sub- 
serve our  purpose,  and  in  subsequent  chapters  the  author 
will  describe  the  virtues  of  some  of  those  plants  which 
he  thinks  are  best  adapted  for  producing  organic  matter. 

However,  there  are  many  others  of  great  value,  like 
the  Canada  field-pea,  soy  bean,  cowpea,  buckwheat, 
turnip.  Dwarf  Essex  rape,  alsike  and  crimson  clover, 
velvet  bean,  corn  sown  thick,  white  mustard,  etc. 

Leguminous  plants  are  best  for  green  manuring,  be- 
cause of  their  power  to  draw  vast  quantities  of  nitrogen 
from  the  air;  but  there  are  many  non-leguminous  plants 
that  are  valuable  for  furnishing  organic  matter  and  soil 
covering. 

The  ideal  plant  for  furnishing  organic  matter  is  the 
one  that  can  be  planted  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  and 
which  will  make  sufficient  growth  to  cover  the  ground 
during  the  winter  season,  and  fill  the  soil  for  a  consider- 


78  PRODUCING  ORGANIC  MATTER 

able  depth  with  its  roots,  and  if  this  ideal  plant  is  a 
nitrogen-gathering  plant  so  much  the  better. 

When  organic  matter  has  been  produced,  that  portion 
of  it  other  than  the  roots  of  the  plants  can  best  be  in- 
corporated into  the  soil  by  the  use  of  a  plow  like  the 
disc  plow  or  the  deep  tilling  machine. 

It  is  important  that  organic  matter  be  put  into  the  soil 
in  the  right  manner  to  prevent  the  ill  effects  of  "  soil 
roofing"  or  soil  cavities  between  the  bottom  of  the 
furrow  slice  and  soil  turned  under. 

But  if  the  plows  above  mentioned  are  used  and  the 
soil  is  well  rolled  and  worked  down  with  harrow  or 
disc  there  will  no  effects  from  "  roofing." 


CHAPTER  VIII 


EXAMINE  the  rye  plant  and  its  roots  in  the 
early  spring  and  you  will  find  the  soil  com- 
pletely covered  with  the  foliage  of  the  plant, 
and  the  soil  for  six  or  more  inches  in  depth  a  perfect 
mass  of  roots.     Plowing  rye  is  like  plowing  grass  sod. 

The  rye  plant  covering  the  soil  during  the  winter 
season  prevents  the  disastrous  leaching  that  occurs  on 
soils  not  covered.  The  foliage  and  roots  give  organic 
matter  and  ventilation  to  the  soil. 

It  is  said  on  the  best  authority  that  green  rye  is  equal, 
ton  for  ton,  to  stable  manure,  with  one  small  exception. 
Manure  has  half  a  pound  of  phosphoric  acid  per  ton 
more  than  rye. 

In  a  ton  of  green  rye  there  are  eleven  pounds  of 
nitrogen,  four  and  one-half  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid 
and  twelve  and  one-half  pounds  of  potash.  A  ton  of 
green  clover  contains  only  twelve  pounds  of  nitrogen. 

Rye  sown  early  in  the  fall  will  by  May  i  produce 
five  to  fifteen  tons  of  rye  to  the  acre.  This  plowed 
under  on  that  date  would  give  you,  compared  to  manure, 
a  money  value  of  $io  to  $20  per  acre  procured  at  an 
expense  of  less  than  $2  per  acre.  In  addition  to  its 
manuring  value,  it  can  be  grown  at  the  time  of  the  year 
when  much  of  your  soil  is  not  occupied  with  other  crops. 
81 


82  RYE 

It  is  a  protection  to  fields  liable  to  washing.  It  ab- 
sorbs certain  useful  minerals  and  acids  that  otherwise 
would  be  lost  to  the  soil. 

One  writer,  speaking  of  rye,  says :  "  The  labor  of 
applying  evenly  forty  loads  of  manure  per  acre  is  con- 
siderable. All  this  is  done  more  evenly  by  the  green 
crop.  Seed  and  labor  together  cost  me  but  three  dollars 
and  a  half  per  acre.  I  cannot  say  that  it  adds  as  much 
fertility  to  the  soil  as  forty  loads  of  manure,  but  I  do 
say  that  in  our  droughty  seasons  it  produces  as  great 
an  increase  of  crop  as  do  forty  two-horse  loads  of  good 
manure.  It  certainly  pays  to  practice  it,  and  to  practice 
it  largely,  even  on  the  land  well  supplied  with  stable 
manure." 

In  the  fall  of  1907  I  planted  rye  in  corn.  The  fall 
was  the  dryest  we  had  had  for  years,  but  notwithstand- 
ing the  extreme  drought  the  rye  made  a  splendid 
growth  before  winter  and  covered  the  ground.  Some 
of  the  rye  was  plowed  under  quite  early  in  the  spring, 
and  some  on  high  rolling  ground  was  not  plowed  under 
until  it  was  heading.  The  entire  field  was  planted  to 
sweet  corn.  In  breaking  the  field  the  soil  broke  and 
turned  over  as  a  sod  field  would.  The  soil  was  loose 
and  friable,  and  a  splendid  crop  of  sweet  corn  was 
grown.  The  corn  grown  on  the  higher  and  rolling  por- 
tion of  the  ground  and  which  was  plowed  when  the  rye 
was  in  head  produced  more  per  acre  than  the  remainder 
of  the  field,  and  yet  this  portion  of  the  field  was  the 
poorest. 

I  had  another  ten-acre  field,  which  I  also  planted  to 
rye  in  the  fall  of  1907.     This  field  was  subject  to  much 


RYE  83 

washing,  but  the  rye  covered  the  ground  so  completely 
before  winter  that  no  portion  of  the  field  was  washed. 
In  the  spring  I  early  plowed  this  field  and  sowed  it  in 
peas  for  a  canning  factory.  The  peas  were  harvested 
July  7th,  8th,  and  9th.  After  the  removal  of  the  peas 
I  disced  the  field  and  July  15th  sowed  to  hungarian. 
September  6th  I  began  cutting  the  hungarian  for  hay. 
It  produced  three  and  one-half  tons  of  splendid  hay  per 
acre,  equal  in  feeding  value  to  any  hay,  except  alfalfa, 
grown  on  the  farm. 

On  the  20th  of  September  with  a  disc  wheat  drill  I 
sowed  the  field  to  rye  without  any  preparation  of  the 
soil.  By  December  ist  the  field  was  a  solid  mass  of 
green  rye.  This  field  I  broke  early  the  following  spring 
and  planted  to  field  corn,  and  the  field  was  in  splendid 
tilth  for  same,  and  made  eighty  bushels  of  corn  per 
acre. 

In  growing  rye  for  fertilizing  purposes  most  farmers 
make  the  mistake  of  pasturing  it  too  close  in  both  fall 
and  spring.  In  no  case  should  it  be  pastured  in  the 
spring.  Allow  it  to  grow  as  long  as  you  can.  You 
cannot  have  too  large  a  growth  to  plow  under.  Some 
may  tell  you  that  if  you  allow  it  to  get  too  large  and 
plow  it  under  it  will  so  dry  out  the  soil  as  to  injure 
the  growing  crop.  But  do  not  believe  it.  Heavy  vege- 
tation plowed  under  is  a  conservator  of  moisture. 

Some  will  also  tell  you  that  it  sours  the  soil.  Your 
soil  is  sour  only  when  it  is  cold,  wet,  non-ventilated  and 
unproductive.  Ditch  and  get  the  water  out  of  it,  plow 
into  it  large  quantities  of  vegetable  matter,  produced 
from   green   manuring   plants,   and   thus   start   up   the 


84  RYE 

circulation  of  air  into  it,  and  it  becomes  warm  and 
sweet. 

Soil  is  never  soured  by  plowing  under  green  crops  if 
it  is  well  drained,  and  is  thoroughly  rolled  and  pulver- 
ized. 

Next  to  draining  and  ventilating,  sour  soil  needs 
feeding  organic  matter.     A  fertile  soil  is  never  sour. 

While  rye  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  forage 
plants,  yet  it  is  equally  as  valuable  for  fertilizing  pur- 
poses. If  your  soil  needs  cleaning,  sow  rye.  It  gathers 
food  in  the  soil  and  makes  fine  growth  on  poor  soils. 
It  is  especially  adapted  to  sandy  lands  and  will  grow 
well  on  stiff  clay  lands  if  they  are  well  drained. 

The  author  knows  of  a  farm  that  has  been  restored 
and  built  up  with  rye  until  it  produces  the  best  corn 
crops  of  any  farm  in  the  neighborhood.  The  owner 
always  sows  rye  for  plowing  under  for  his  corn  crop. 
His  rye  crops  plowed  under  helped  his  land  in  holding 
moisture  in  dry  seasons,  which,  as  I  stated,  is  contrary 
to  general  belief. 

The  farmers  have  a  wonderful  weapon  in  rye  to  aid 
in  combating  soil  exhaustion,  and  it  is  so  easily  and 
cheaply  grown.  From  one  to  two  bushels  of  seed  at 
a  cost  of  from  70  cents  to  $1  per  bushel  will  seed  an 
acre,  and  the  labor  and  cost  of  seeding  in  corn  or  after 
wheat  is  insignificant. 

We  who  are  sentimentally  inclined  delight  in  the  melo- 
dies of  the  Scottish  love  lyric,  "  Comin'  Thro'  the  Rye," 
humming  its  words: 

"If  a  body  meet  a  body,  comin'  thro'  the  rye, 
If  a  body  kiss  a  body,  need  a  body  cry  ?  " 


RYE  85 

We  wonder  whether  the  Scottish  bard  was  singing 
of  the  rye  plant  or  of  the  River  Rye  and  its  stepping- 
stones  o'er  which  the  Scottish  maidens  were  wont  to 
pass,  for  if  he  was  singing  of  the  rye  plant  we  can  pic- 
ture in  our  imagination  the  lovely  scene  of  a  field,  rich 
in  the  beautiful  growth  of  the  majestic,  blooming  rye 
plant,  whose  foliage  hid  the  blushes  of  the  Scottish 
maiden  when  met  by  her  stalwart  lover,  "  Comin'  Thro' 
the  Rye,"  who  claimed  the  coveted  kiss. 

But  we  who  have  no  sentiment  in  our  hearts  and 
look  only  to  the  material  worth  of  things,  can  find  in  the 
rye  plant  those  elements  of  plant  food  that  quickly  and 
cheaply  build  up  our  soils  to  the  highest  and  best  fer- 
tility. 

We  so  little  appreciate  the  good  things  that  God  has 
provided  for  our  welfare,  and  rye  is  one  of  the  least 
appreciated  crops  on  the  farm.  Aside  from  its  great 
feeding  value,  it  is  one  of  the  best  soil  builders,  and  is 
always  so  available  and  so  willing  to  respond  and  give 
its  best  service  to  us  under  the  varied  conditions  of  soil, 
weather  and  seasons. 


A  BUNCH  OF  VETCH  TAKEN  FROM  UNDER  ICE  AND 
WATER. 
This  vetch  was  covered  with  ice  and  water  for  three  weeks  in 
the  month  of  January,  yet  the  plants  were  bright  and  green  and 
showed  no  injury.  This  vetch  was  taken  from  the  field  shown  in 
the  illustration  of  a  field  of  vetch  in  full  bloom. 


CHAPTER  IX 

HUNGARIAN 

HUNGARIAN  is  another  one  of  the  most  val- 
uable and  less  appreciated  crops  of  the  farm. 
For  feeding  purposes,  for  both  cattle  and 
horses,  I  rank  it  above  clover  or  timothy  hay.  It  is 
said  to  injure  horses.  A  greater  fallacy  never  existed. 
Cut  just  when  the  seed  has  formed,  no  injury  results 
from  feeding  in  any  quantity.  I  have  fed  it  for  years 
to  the  best  of  horses,  and  they  relished  it  and  thrived  upon 
it.  It  is  the  quickest  and  cheapest  hay  crop  grown.  It 
can  be  sown  in  July  after  a  wheat,  oats  or  pea  crop 
has  been  removed,  and  in  eight  weeks  or  less  a  crop  of 
hay  can  be  gathered  making  from  two  to  four  tons  to 
the  acre,  and  after  the  removal  of  a  crop  of  hungarian  the 
land  can  be  seeded  to  rye  or  wheat. 

I  have  heard  it  said  that  it  is  a  soil  robber.  I  have 
not  found  it  so. 

A  ton  of  hungarian  extracts  from  the  soil  but  eight 
pounds  of  nitrogen  and  eight  pounds  of  potash  more 
than  a  ton  of  green  clover  extracts  from  the  soil. 

For  loosening  up  the  soil  nothing  equals  it. 

In  the  summer  of  1909  I  had  a  field  in  corn,  one-half 
of  which  the  previous  season  had  been  in  hungarian 
for  hay,  and  there  was  no  difference  in  the  yield  of  corn. 


90  HUNGARIAN 

but  that  part  of  the  field  previously  in  hungarian  was 
more  easily  cultivated. 

Farmers  will  condemn  hungarian  without  foundation, 
and  say  that  it  is  a  robber  of  the  soil,  and  yet  raise  year 
after  year  timothy,  which  I  say  and  can  prove  is  the 
meanest  soil  robber  on  the  American  farm.  Mean,  be- 
cause I  know  of  no  more  certain  way  to  hasten  the  total 
exhaustion  of  the  soil  than  to  grow  timothy  year  after 
year.  On  my  farm  I  shun  it  as  I  would  a  rattlesnake. 
It  takes  six  years  of  the  best  of  treatment  to  rebuild 
soil  upon  which  timothy  has  been  grown  for  three  or 
four  years. 

I  know  of  fields,  once  rich,  almost  utterly  made  unfit 
for  the  growing  of  crops  by  the  growing  of  timothy  on 
them  for  a  great  number  of  years. 

If  I  was  forced  to  buy  hay,  I  would  rather  pay  $20 
per  ton  for  timothy  hay  than  grow  it  on  my  farm.  But 
I  have  digressed,  I  was  to  say  something  of  the  value 
of  hungarian  as  a  producer  of  organic  matter. 

It  is  said  that  a  ton  of  hungarian  in  blossom  contains 
twenty  pounds  of  nitrogen,  five  and  one-half  pounds  of 
phosphoric  acid  and  seventeen  pounds  of  potash. 

It  takes  from  one  to  one  and  one-half  bushels  of  seed 
to  sow  an  acre,  worth  generally  from  $1.50  per  bushel, 
or  $1.50  to  $2.25  per  acre.  If  but  three  tons  of  hun- 
garian to  the  acre  is  grown  and  same  is  plowed  under, 
you  get  60  pounds  of  nitrogen  to  the  acre.  It  will 
take  six  tons  of  barnyard  manure  to  produce  60  pounds 
of  nitrogen,  and  six  tons  of  manure  is  worth  not  less 
than  $1.50  per  ton,  or  $9. 

In  addition  to  the  large  amount  of  nitrogen  and  potash 


HUNGARIAN  91 

in  a  ton  of  Hungarian,  think  of  the  vast  quantities  of 
organic  matter  to  plow  under  and  available  as  humus, 
and  for  loosening  up  the  soil  and  for  soil  ventilation. 

If  Hungarian  is  used  as  a  plowing-under  crop,  I  would 
advise  sowing  it  after  the  wheat  or  oats  crop  is  gath- 
ered, discing  or  plowing  the  ground  deep,  then  when 
Hungarian  is  in  blossom  and  before  the  seed  Has  ma- 
tured, plow  under  five  or  six  inches  deep  and  sow  to 
rye.  You  then  Have  the  advantage  of  from  two  or 
three  plowings  of  the  soil  during  a  season,  which  I 
Have  shown  to  be  a  manuring  in  itself,  as  "  tillage  is  a 
manure."  Your  soil  is  also  covered  during  the  leach- 
ing season,  and  Has  in  the  spring  another  valuable  crop 
for  plowing  under. 

By  a  little  hustling  a  crop  of  Hungarian  could  be  sown 
after  wheat,  plowed  under  in  time  to  sow  wheat  in  the 
fall  and  which  would  be  of  immense  value  to  the  wheat 
crop. 


CHAPTER  X 

SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH 

IN  1906  the  author  purchased  a  farm  that  had  the 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  poorest  in  the  county. 
It  had  been  kicked  and  buffeted  about  as  trading 
stock.  Each  owner  no  sooner  got  into  possession  of  it 
when  he  found  he  had  purchased  a  "  gold  brick,"  and 
never  rested  until  he  succeeded  in  unloading  it  upon 
some  other  victim.  It  never  seemed  to  occur  to  any  of 
its  owners  that  the  farm  had  simply  been  handled  by 
soil  robbers  and  was  paying  the  penalty  by  withdrawing 
its  bounty. 

The  author  purchased  this  farm  because  of  its  cheap- 
ness, location  and  possibilities,  and  was  given  the  laugh 
for  so  doing. 

The  character  of  the  soil  and  lay  of  the  land  is  pe- 
culiar. One-third  consists  of  deep  yellow  sand,  placed 
in  ridges,  no  portion  of  any  extent  being  level.  One- 
third  is  level,  sandy  loam  and  the  other  third  black  Wa- 
bash bottom  land. 

The  entire  farm  in  its  early  history  was  covered  with 
large  walnut,  poplar,  oak  and  other  timber,  the  timber 
on  the  sandy  land  having  been  as  heavy  as  on  the  other 
portion  of  the  farm.  The  land  was  a  portion  of  an 
Indian  reserve,  set  apart  by  the  government  to  the  In- 
95 


96  SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH 

dians  in  1818  and  by  the  Indians  sold  in  1833,  and  was 
cleared  more  than  sixty  years  ago,  and  for  many  years 
produced  large  crops.  It  had  always  been  farmed  upon 
the  principle  of  getting  out  of  it  all  you  can  each  year 
and  putting  nothing  back  into  the  soil.  Under  this  sys- 
tem of  farming  the  sandy  or  two-thirds  portion  of  the 
farm  had  become  so  poor  that  in  the  best  season  it  pro- 
duced but  15  to  20  bushels  of  corn,  5  to  10  bushels  of 
oats  and  10  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre.  Some  sea- 
sons corn,  oats  and  wheat  were  an  entire  failure.  Even 
the  black  bottom  portion  was  farmed  in  corn  year  after 
year  until  the  yield  fell  to  less  than  40  bushels  to  the 
acre.  In  fine,  the  farm  was  just  on  the  borderland  of 
the  abandoned  farm. 

As  the  author  has  been  up  against  many  of  the  hard 
propositions  of  life,  it  did  not  take  him  long  to  learn 
that  in  acquiring  this  farm  he  had  tackled  more  than  he 
had  anticipated.  He  was  like  the  Indian  who  was  being 
worsted  in  a  hand-to-hand  conflict  and  who  exclaimed, 
"  Me  in  a  heap  big  fight." 

To  reclaim  this  land,  the  author  soon  realized,  would 
require  some  work  and  study. 

The  first  season  he  planted  the  sandy  portion  to  early 
peas  for  canning  purposes.  Seven  weeks  of  dry  weather 
reduced  the  crop  to  a  money  value  of  $10  per  acre. 
Upon  the  removal  of  the  peas  the  land  was  disced  and 
planted  in  sweet  corn  before  June  25.  The  sweet  corn 
brought  a  money  value  of  $15  per  acre. 

Various  crops  were  grown  on  the  farm  the  first  sea- 
son, to-wit:  Peas,  sugar  corn,  canning  beets,  field  corn, 
tomatoes  and  potatoes.     Some  commercial  fertilizer  and 


SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH  97 

manure  was  used;  the  commercial  fertilizer  with  little 
or  no  success. 

Had  it  not  been  for  twenty  acres  of  late  peas  sown 
on  the  bottom  lands  that  brought  a  money  value  of  $75 
per  acre,  the  farm  the  first  year  would  not  have  paid  ex- 
penses. 

But  the  author  was  not  discouraged.  He  was  con- 
stantly studying  conditions  and  looking  about  for  some- 
thing and  some  method  by  which  the  soil  of  his  farm 
could  be  rebuilt. 

One  day  during  the  first  summer  he  received  through 
the  mail  a  catalogue  of  a  seed  house,  and  in  turning  its 
pages  his  eyes  caught  the  words  "  Sandy  Vetch."  The 
fact  that  he  owned  some  sand  that  was  then  the  upper- 
most subject  in  his  mind  no  doubt  had  something  to  do 
with  arresting  his  eyes  upon  the  words. 

Reading  the  description  in  the  catalogue  of  this  plant, 
which  said  that  "  Sand  Vetch  was  becoming  more  popu- 
lar with  the  farmers  of  the  country  as  they  learned  more 
of  its  value;  that  it  was  noted  for  its  extreme  hardi- 
ness, its  value  as  a  cover  crop  and  for  forage  and  fer- 
tilizing purposes;  that  it  was  especially  recommended 
for  poor  soils  where  it  thrives  wonderfully  and  improves 
the  soil,  being  rich  in  nitrogen,"  the  author  began  to 
"  sit  up  and  take  notice." 

It  did  not  take  him  long  to  learn  that  he  was  inter- 
ested and  intensely  interested.  But  when  he  read  fur- 
ther that  "  the  Washington  Department  of  Agriculture 
estimated  the  value  of  an  acre  of  vetch  plowed  under 
as  equivalent  to  putting  into  the  ground  twenty  or  forty 
dollars'  worth  of  commercial  fertilizer,"  he  became  en- 


98  SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH 

thusiastic.  He  was  ready  to  shout  at  the  top  of  his 
voice  "  Eureka ! "  But  he  read  on  until  he  came  to 
where  the  description  said :  "  It  is  suited  to  any  soil, 
and  is  valuable  in  this  respect,  as  it  produces  good  crops 
on  poor  sandy  soils,  while  on  good  land  it  grows  to  a 
height  of  four  or  five  feet  and  produces  enormous 
crops." 

This  was  enough.  He  was  convinced  that  he  had 
been  rewarded  in  his  search,  and  had  indeed  found  the 
precious  alchemic  soil-enriching  art  for  which  he  had 
been  searching,  and  immediately  sat  down  with  "  pen 
in  hand  "  and  ordered  seed  enough  to  sow  two  acres. 
Yes,  two  whole  acres ! 

And  now,  in  the  light  of  six  years'  experience  with 
this  valuable  plant,  the  author  smiles  when  he  thinks 
that,  being  up  against  one  of  the  hardest  propositions 
of  his  life,  and  having  placed  in  his  hands  the  very  thing 
that  would  overcome  it,  he  only  had  nerve  enough  to 
order  enough  vetch  seed  to  plant  two  acres,  for  had  he 
possessed  the  nerve  to  have  ordered  enough  to  plant 
his  entire  farm,  and  then  the  following  spring  planted 
the  same  in  field  corn,  as  subsequent  experience  demon- 
strated, he  would  have  received  from  the  corn  crop  al- 
most the  purchase  price  of  the  farm.- 

In  due  time  the  seed  was  received,  and  in  August  it 
was  planted  upon  the  poorest  and  most  rolling  two  acres 
of  sand  land  on  the  farm.  It  grew  rapidly,  and  by 
winter  the  ground  was  so  completely  covered  with  its 
foliage  that  washing  of  the  land  was  entirely  prevented. 
An  examination  of  the  roots  showed  them  set  thick  with 
nitrogen  nodules.     Early  in  the  spring,  before  any  other 


SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH  99 

kinds  of  grass  or  vegetation  began  to  grow,  the  vetch 
plants  were  pushing  out  their  summer  foliage,  and  by 
May  I  they  were  four  feet  in  length.  About  the  first 
of  June  the  two  acres  were  cut  for  hay. 

The  author  saw  clearly  that  he  had  found  a  valuable 
plant  for  the  farm,  yet  exemplified  usual  caution  by 
planting  only  25  acres  of  vetch  in  August  of  1907,  the 
sowing  being  on  the  poorest  and  sandiest  land  of  the 
farm,  21  acres  in  one  field  and  four  in  another.  It  was 
decided  to  seed  the  21  acres  to  field  corn  and  leave  the 
other  for  pasture.     Both  grew  luxuriantly. 

The  spring  of  1908  was  very  wet,  and  it  was  May  i 
before  the  ground  was  in  condition  to  break  for  corn. 
Delays  were  such  that  the  21 -acre  field  was  not  entirely 
broken  until  May  25.  The  vetch  had  grown  to  a  height 
of  five  feet,  and  the  mass  of  vegetation  was  so  heavy 
that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  turn  under.  A  half 
dozen  makes  of  plows  were  tried  with  complete  failure, 
when  finally  success  was  obtained  with  a  double  disc 
plow,  and  the  field  was  finished.  The  prospect  did  not 
look  inviting,  for  bunches  of  vetch  showed  here  and  there 
sticking  out  of  the  ground.  The  field  was  worked  down 
to  fairly  good  condition  for  planting  by  dragging  and 
rolling,  and  on  June  3  and  4  was  planted  to  yellow 
corn. 

Dire  were  the  predictions  made  as  to  the  outcome. 
Many  contended  that  the  heavy  mass  of  vegetation 
would  absorb  all  the  moisture  from  the  ground  and  the 
corn  would  perish.  And  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  au- 
thor was  fairly  hopeful.  But  he  gritted  his  teeth,  held 
his  counsel  and  awaited  results.     The  corn  came  up  a 


loo  SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH 

splendid  stand.  Dry  weather  set  in,  which  added  no 
Httle  discomfort  to  the  situation.  The  corn  grew  slowly, 
and  as  soon  as  it  was  sufficiently  large  the  cultivators 
were  set  to  work,  and  were  worked  with  a  little  diffi- 
culty on  account  of  bunches  of  vetch  insufficiently 
plowed  under  catching  on  the  cultivator  points. 

It  was  amusing  to  hear  the  side  remarks  of  the  men 
working  the  cultivators,  which  would  indirectly  come 
to  the  author's  ears. 

One  day,  when  the  corn  was  receiving  its  first  plow- 
ing, two  hardware  men  from  the  city  came  out  to  set 
up  and  start  working  a  new  two-row  cultivator.  When 
they  were  taken  to  this  field  disgust  was  plainly  shown 
upon  their  countenances.  One  of  them,  after  the  corn 
grown  in  this  field  had  been  harvested,  told  the  author 
that  when  he  first  looked  upon  the  field  he  said  to  him- 
self that  in  all  his  forty  years'  experience  as  a  farmer 
and  seller  of  agricultural  tools  he  had  never  seen  so  un- 
promising a  prospect  for  corn  as  this  field  presented. 

As  stated,  the  weather  was  dry,  and  the  corn  grew 
five  or  six  inches  high,  and  made  no  further  growth  for 
more  than  a  week,  when  it  seemed  to  take  on  new  life, 
and  then  how  it  did  grow!  My,  the  pride  the  author 
did  take  in  that  field  of  growing  corn !  How  it  sparkled 
his  eyes  and  swelled  his  pride  to  look  upon  it!  He  felt 
the  glory  of  having  done  something  worth  while.  The 
neighbors  and  travelers  along  the  highway  began  to  take 
notice  as  the  corn  grew  and  grew  like  Jack's  famous 
bean  stalk. 

The  corn,  notwithstanding  the  rolling  and  hilly  char- 
acter of  the  field,  was  of  the  same  height,  every  hill 


SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH  103 

alike,  and  of  the  dark  green  color  indicating  the  healthy 
growth  of  corn. 

When  the  corn  reached  waist  height  the  prophets  who 
had  predicted  its  untimely  demise  on  account  of  the 
great  mass  of  vetch  turned  under  said :  "  Wait  until 
it  begins  to  ear,  and  then  you  will  see  it  fire  and  wither 
up." 

But  the  corn  grew  up  and  up  until  it  reached  the 
height  of  eight  to  ten  feet,  silked,  tasseled,  and  bore  its 
ears  of  golden  corn. 

It  was  subject  to  six  weeks  of  dry  weather  after  it 
had  silked,  and  yet  it  had  not  fired  and  every  hill  was 
bright  and  green.  The  neighbor's  corn  opposite  and 
across  the  public  highway  fired  clear  above  the  ears  of 
corn,  and  did  not  make  20  bushels  to  the  acre. 

Residents  of  the  county  not  acquainted  with  what 
had  been  done  to  the  field,  who  had  been  passing  this 
field  for  twenty  years  or  more,  attracted  by  the  remarkable 
growth  and  condition  of  the  corn,  would  stop,  get  out 
of  their  vehicles  and  go  over  into  the  field  to  examine 
it,  and  then  stop  at  the  house  and  inquire  what  had  been 
done  to  the  soil  to  cause  such  a  growth  of  corn,  saying 
that  "  they  had  never  known  this  field  to  have  upon  it 
a  crop  of  corn  of  any  value ;  that  corn  on  this  field  was 
almost  invariably  a  failure," 

The  corn  finally  reached  its  harvesting  stage,  sound 
and  solid.  It  was  gathered,  hauled  to  market,  and  made 
by  weight  ']2  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  brought  a  money 
value  ot  $35  per  acre. 

The  planter  used  to  plant  the  corn  was  set  to  drop 
three  grains  to  the  hill,  and  never  missed  putting  three 


104  SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH 

grains  in  the  hill,  but  too  often  dropped  four  grains, 
which  made  the  corn  too  thick,  and  this  condition  fully 
reduced  the  yield  ten  or  more  bushels  to  the  acre.  But 
think  of  72  bushels  of  corn  being  grown  on  land  that 
had  not  for  twenty  or  more  years  produced  more  than 
20  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  this  feat  accomplished  in  so 
short  a  time  and  with  so  little  expense,  as  the  cost  of  the 
seed  was  but  $3.50  per  acre. 

This  experiment  with  vetch  made  the  author  a  vetch 
enthusiast. 

In  August  of  the  year  1908  he  planted  thirty  acres, 
and  notwithstanding  the  extreme  dry  fall,  there  having 
been  no  rain  for  eight  weeks  after  it  was  sown,  it  grew 
nicely. 

In  the  spring  ten  acres  of  it  was  plowed  for  field 
corn,  seven  or  eight  acres  for  potatoes,  and  the  balance 
for  sweet  corn. 

The  illustration  in  the  front  of  this  book  shows  a 
view  of  the  poorest  part  of  the  field  of  corn  taken  Sep- 
tember 7,  1909. 

Upon  this  particular  spot  of  ground  shown  in  the  picture 
corn  had  never  grown  to  exceed  a  height  of  four  or 
five  feet,  with  a  correspondingly  poor  yield.  Here  the 
vetch  was  the  heaviest,  being  four  or  five  feet  in  height 
when  plowed  under  in  the  middle  of  May.  The  soil  on 
this  particular  spot  is  a  sandy  clay,  the  remainder  of 
the  field  is  a  black  gumbo  soil ;  the  whole  having  been 
farmed  for  a  half  century  with  a  rotation  of  corn,  oats 
and  wheat,  a  greater  majority  of  the  years  in  corn,  and 
every  year  the  stalks  were  burned.  In  recent  years  the 
yield  of  corn  had  been  from  almost  a  failure  to  40  bush- 


SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH  105 

els  to  the  acre.  The  yield  after  the  vetch  was  nearly 
90  bushels  to  the  acre  of  large,  splendid  white  corn  — 
an  increase  over  former  years  of  over  100  per  cent. 
The  cost  of  vetch  seed  for  this  field  was  $3  per  acre. 

The  author's  brother  is  the  owner  of  a  farm  the  soil 
of  which  is  clay  underlaid  with  a  gravelly  subsoil. 
When  first  cleared,  more  than  sixty  years  ago,  it  was 
rich  and  produced  enormous  crops.  Fifty  years  in  the 
hands  of  tenants,  with  an  insufficient  soil-building  ma- 
terial added  to  it,  reduced  the  yield  of  corn  to  less  than 
30  bushels  to  the  acre.  In  the  fall  of  1908  fifty  acres 
of  this  land  was  planted  to  vetch.  The  extreme  dry 
fall  made  the  seed  come  up  slow  and  uneven,  and  only  a 
fair  growth  was  obtained  before  winter.  At  plowing 
time  the  following  spring  a  fair  crop  of  vetch  was 
plowed  under  and  forty  acres  planted  to  field  corn.  The 
crop  gathered  from  the  field  corn  produced  over  70 
bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre  —  an  increase  of  over  100 
per  cent. 

Ten  acres  were  plowed  under  and  the  ground  culti- 
vated until  June,  when  it  was  planted  to  alfalfa,  about 
which  we  will  speak  later.  Another  vetch  enthusiast 
was  added  to  the  list. 

Both  author  and  brother  had  (December  20th,  1909) 
vetch  growing  on  their  farms,  sowed  in  the  open  and  in 
corn,  that  covers  the  ground  like  a  thick  velvet  carpet. 

The  author's  experience  with  vetch  for  potatoes  and 
sweet  corn  has  been  as  successful  as  it  has  been  with 
field  corn.  Sweet  corn  has  been  grown  after  vetch  on 
poor  soil  that  produced  from  4^^  to  5  tons  to  the  acre 
—  a  money  value  of  $36  to  $40  per  acre.     In  1909  one 


io6  SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH 

and  two-fifths  acres  of  potatoes  planted  after  vetch  on 
soil  deficient  in  fertility  produced  nearly  450  bushels, 
and  potatoes  planted  after  vetch  on  some  of  the  sandiest 
land  on  his  farm  produced  at  the  rate  of  150  bushels 
to  the  acre,  and  double  the  amount  of  potatoes  grown 
side  by  side  on  the  same  soil  after  crimson  clover  plowed 
under. 

No  doubt  the  question  suggested  to  the  reader's  mind 
is :  Why  is  vetch  of  so  much  value  as  a  soil  or  fertilizer 
crop  ?  The  question  may  be  answered  with  a  few  words. 
It  is  the  greatest  nitrogen-gathering  and  humus-produc- 
ing plant  found  in  Nature's  garden. 

We  believe  it  to  be  true  as  holy  writ  that  for  every 
disease  of  the  human  body  Nature  has  a  remedy  if  man 
can  only  find  it,  and  that  for  every  disease  of  the  soil 
there  is  a  remedy  to  be  found  in  the  plant,  mineral  or 
animal  kingdom,  and  it  is  up  to  man  to  find  and  ap- 
ply it. 

If  soil  was  originally  built  up  by  mixing  vegetable 
matter  with  disintegrated  minerals  and  stones,  then  why 
can  it  not  be  kept  built  up  by  the  same  process  ? 

Under  Southern  European  skies  vetch  is  supposed  to 
have  had  its  birth.  In  all  Europe  it  is  cultivated  for 
forage  purposes,  it  being  regarded  equal  to  clover  in 
nutritive  qualities.  Sown  in  late  summer  or  early  au- 
tumn, it  is  harvested  the  next  year.  If  in  the  spring, 
it  is  cut  the  same  year. 

The  American  farmer,  slow  or  overly  cautious  in 
trying  the  unknown,  has  rarely  cultivated  it.  As  stated, 
it  is  an  annual  plant,  and  must  be  seeded  each  year,  al- 
though it  readily  reseeds  itself,  as  I  have  pastured  it 


^Js-"  SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH  107 

with  cattle,  taking  the  cattle  from  it  as  it  began  to  seed, 
and  then  allowed  the  seed  to  ripen  and  fall  upon  the 
ground,  discing  the  field  thoroughly,  and  the  seed  came 
up,  giving  me  a  fine  stand. 

Vetch  being  rarely  cultivated  in  America,  the  supply 
of  seed  is,  as  a  consequence,  procured  in  Europe  and  im- 
ported to  this  country  at  a  cost  to  the  farmer  of  6^ 
to  10  cents  per  pound  f.  o.  b.  shipping  station. 

Fifty  pounds  of  seed  to  the  acre  is  the  right  quantity 
to  plant. 

In  corn  I  sow  the  seed  with  a  one-horse  hoe  or  disc 
wheat  drill.  In  the  open  I  sow  with  a  two-horse  drill. 
The  feed  gauge  of  the  average  one  or  two-horse  drill 
entirely  shut  off  sows  just  50  pounds  to  the  acre. 

If  vetch  is  sown  for  seed,  there  must  be  sowed  with  it 
about  one  peck  of  rye  to  the  acre.  The  rye  holds  up 
the  vetch  so  it  can  be  easily  harvested.  The  plant  is 
a  trailing  one,  and  hence  is  hard  to  harvest  unless  it  has 
a  plant  sown  with  it  to  support  it. 

When  seed  is  ripe,  cut  and  thresh  with  ordinary 
threshing  machine  and  separate  seed  with  fanning  mill. 

Seed  for  planting  can  be  procured  from  most  any 
seed  house. 

The  vetch  plant  has  a  mass  of  roots  penetrating  the 
soil  to  a  considerable  depth.  The  roots  are  always  full 
of  nodules,  the  homes  of  the  bacteria  that  obtain  their 
food  from  the  nitrogen  of  the  air,  and  which  it  is  claimed 
collect  more  nitrogen  than  they  need,  which  surplus  is 
stored  into  the  soil. 

The  clover,  alfalfa  and  pea  plants  and  other  plants 
of  the  legume  family  are  considered  valuable  to  the  soil 


io8  SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH 

because  of  their  nitrogen-gathering  powers,  they  hav- 
ing these  nodules  on  their  roots ;  but  a  vetch  plant  will 
have  ten  nodules  on  its  roots  where  these  other  plants 
have  one. 

The  vetch  roots  are  so  numerous  in  the  soil  that  it 
will  plow  up  like  heavy  sod.  The  foliage  of  the  plant 
is  so  massive  that  it  produces  from  twelve  to  twenty 
tons  to  the  acre.  There  is  no  plant  of  the  nitrogen- 
gathering  species  that  produces  such  a  quantity  of  or- 
ganic matter  for  plowing  under  as  is  furnished  by  the 
vetch  plant. 

When  plowing  up  the  21 -acre  field  mentioned  in  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter  the  next  spring  after  the  large 
corn  crop  had  been  grown,  the  author  observed  that  the 
corn  roots  had  pushed  their  way  down  into  the  mass 
of  vetch  plowed  under,  and  had  interlaced  themselves 
around  the  vetch  stems  until  the  whole  mass  had  been 
knitted  together,  and,  the  plow  turning  it  on  top  of  the 
furrow,  it  looked  like  sheep  skins  spread  out  on  the 
ground.  On  exposure  to  the  air  the  mass  fell  into  small 
pieces. 

This  observation  proved  to  the  author  that  the  corn 
roots  had  found  in  this  mass  of  vegetable  matter  a  great 
feeding  ground,  where  both  feed  and  moisture  were 
found  in  abundance  for  the  feeding  of  the  corn  plants. 

After  six  years'  experience  with  it  I  am  convinced 
that  the  claim  of  the  Agricultural  Department,  that  an 
acre  of  it  plowed  under  is  equivalent  in  value  to  twenty 
to  forty  dollars,  is  not  extravagant. 

It  is  the  greatest  soil  builder  ever  discovered,  alfalfa 
not  excepted.     With  it  and  ditching  I  can  reclaim  any 


SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH  109 

poor  or  worn-out  soil.  With  it  the  American  farmer 
can  make  his  soil  produce  as  it  has  never  produced  since 
it  was  rescued  from  the  wilderness. 

Vetch  is  the  remedy  for  clover-sick  soil.  If  alfalfa 
is  the  most  valuable  forage  plant  ever  discovered,  vetch 
is  the  most  valuable  fertilizing  plant  ever  discovered. 

Vetch  builds  on  its  roots  so  many  pretty  little  homes 
for  the  busy  nitrogen-gatherers,  who  so  mysteriously 
draw  from  the  great  storehouse  of  nitrogen  situated  in 
the  air  above  the  soil  great  quantities  of  the  precious, 
most  valuable  acquisition  to  the  soil,  nitrogen. 

Vetch  is  no  respecter  of  soils.  It  settles  down  and 
makes  its  home  with  the  rich  or  poor  clay  as  well  as  the 
rich  or  poor  sand,  and  commences  its  business  of  soil 
restoration  at  once.  It  has  no  terrors  of  frost  or 
drought.  Winter  will  grasp  it  with  its  hand  and  hold 
it  in  its  icy  clasp  for  months  and  months,  and  when  the 
warm  sunshine  of  spring  releases  it,  it  smiles  with  its 
freshness  of  green  and  continues  doing  business  at  the 
old  stand.  The  drought  of  fall,  spring  or  summer  will 
blow  its  oven  breath  upon  it,  but  it  heeds  it  not,  and 
continues  its  business  of  storing  fertility  in  the  soil  as 
though  it  was  being  constantly  caressed  with  refreshing 
showers. 

It  finds  the  soil  sick,  impoverished  and  dying.  It 
touches  it  with  its  restoring  power,  and  under  its  stimu- 
lating touch  the  soil  awakens  with  new  and  renewed 
life,  pouring  out  its  wealth  of  plant  growth  that  ripens 
into  food  for  beast  and  man. 

It  will  yet  enter  upon  the  abandoned  farm,  banish  the 
desolation  of  the  fields,  fill  the  unoccupied  farmhouse 


no  SAND,  OR  HAIRY  VETCH 

and  barns  with  the  songs  of  happy,  prosperous  parents, 
the  laughter  of  children  and  the  riches  of  fertile  fields. 
All  hail  King  Vetch,  Nature's  greatest  soil  restorer! 


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*V^-|t-  : 

CHAPTER  XI 

ALFALFA 

THE  value  of  alfalfa  on  the  farm  cannot  be  esti- 
mated. No  plant  has  so  many  uses.  If  the 
corn  plant  should  become  extinct,  alfalfa  could 
take  its  place,  fill  every  want  that  corn  supplies,  and 
yet  its  storehouse  of  utility  would  still  be  overstocked. 

Considering  the  great  usefulness  of  this  plant,  it  is 
astonishing  that  the  American  farmer  grows  so  little  of 
it.  It  cannot  be  on  account  of  ignorance,  for  volumes 
have  been  written  about  it  by  the  great  alfalfa  experts, 
Coburn,  Clothier  and  Wing,  the  public  press  and  agri- 
cultural papers,  and  for  years  lectures  upon  its  value 
have  been  given  to  Farmers'  Institutes  all  over  the  coun- 
try. 

The  slowness  of  the  farmer  in  growing  alfalfa  is  no 
doubt  due  to  environment,  or  his  habit  of  farming  "  just 
as  father  did."  In  many  instances  it  is  due  to  downright 
laziness,  or  that  spirit  of  lethargy  or  state  of  indifference 
that  has  gotten  its  hold  on  so  many  farmers,  and  which 
is  responsible  for  our  worn-out  soils. 

The  average  farmer  does  not  seem  to  be  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  spirit  possessed  by  the  modern  manufac- 
turer who  does  not  hesitate  to  adopt  any  improvement 
or  buy  any  improved  machinery  that  will  increase  the 
efficiency  of  his  plant. 

"3 


114  ALFALFA 

There  is  no  plant  on  the  farm  that  is  so  profitable 
to  the  farmer  as  alfalfa.  When  the  Kansas  farmer  com- 
menced to  grow  it  he  began  to  wax  fat.  His  bank  ac- 
count grew,  his  mortgage  was  canceled,  his  house  and 
barn  grew  into  stately  buildings  filled  with  those  equip- 
ments and  machinery  that  lessen  toil,  and  make  life 
worth  while. 

If  this  plant  has  done  so  much  for  the  Kansas  farmer, 
why  can  it  not  do  as  much  for  the  farmers  of  every 
state  in  the  Union? 

Alfalfa  on  the  farm  in  most  any  state  means  at  least 
three  crops  of  hay  each  season  whose  feeding  power  has 
no  equal. 

It  means  plenty  of  pasture  for  all  stock  no  matter 
how  dry  the  season  may  be. 

It  means  a  food  in  abundance  for  the  hog,  greater  in 
fattening  and  health  preserving  powers  than  any  food 
ever  grown  and  fed  to  this  animal. 

It  means  better  milk,  butter,  beaf ,  mutton  and  poultry. 

It  means  that  this  busy  plant,  which  never  rests,  will 
send  its  great  long  nodule-producing  roots  down  deep 
into  the  soil,  opening  the  way  for  the  water  and  air,  pro- 
ducing organic  matter,  liberating  and  bringing  up  the 
valuable  plant  minerals,  drawing  from  the  air  into  the 
soil  the  precious  nitrogen,  and  thus  rebuilding  and  mak- 
ing rich  again  the  soils  wasted  of  their  fertility  by  the 
sordid  system  of  farming  so  long  practiced  in  this  land 
of  ours. 

Some  farmers  say  that  the  reason  they  do  not  grow 
alfalfa  is  because  it  is  hard  to  get  it  started;  that  it  re- 
quires so  much  labor  and  patience  to  get  the  proper 


ALFALFA  115 

stand  and  start  that  they  can  not  afford  to  bother  with 
it. 

The  author  has  found  that  it  is  easier  to  get  a  stand 
of  and  grow  alfalfa  than  it  is  to  get  a  stand  of  and  grow 
clover.  He  has  also  found  that  the  first  requisite  to 
successful  alfalfa  growing  is  a  well  drained  soil.  Al- 
falfa can  not  grow  with  "  wet  feet." 

In  the  growing  of  alfalfa  the  author  has  pursued  the 
following  methods  with  great  success: 

When  he  decided  upon  the  location  of  his  alfalfa  field 
(and  in  selecting  the  field  he  paid  no  attention  to  charac- 
ter of  soil,  but  selected  the  field  with  reference  to  easy 
access  to  barn  and  stock),  he  plowed  the  land  deep  in 
the  spring  and  planted  to  either  field  or  sugar  corn. 
After  the  corn  was  laid  by  he  sowed  the  field  to  sand 
or  hairy  vetch  at  the  rate  of  thirty-five  pounds  to  the 
acre,  and  thereafter  kept  all  stock  off  of  same.  The 
following  season  the  vetch  is  allowed  to  grow  until  it 
has  bloomed,  then  the  vetch  and  corn  stalks  are  plowed 
under  as  deeply  as  possible  and  the  soil  thoroughly  rolled 
and  dragged.  This  plowing  is  generally  done  in  July, 
and  the  field  is  not  only  rolled  and  dragged  several 
times,  but  is  harrowed  quite  a  number  of  times  until  the 
soil  is  in  an  excellent  state  of  pulverization. 

If  manure  is  available  a  thin  coating  is  spread  with  a 
manure  spreader,  the  spreading  being  done  after  plow- 
ing and  the  manure  being  worked  into  the  soil  with  the 
harrow.  The  spreading  of  a  thin  coating  of  manure 
upon  alfalfa  ground  after  it  is  plowed  will  insure  a  stand 
of  alfalfa.  And  the  plowing  under  of  vetch  without 
manure  will  also  insure  a  stand  of  alfalfa. 


ii6  ALFALFA 

The  seed  at  the  rate  of  twenty  pounds  to  the  acre  is 
sown  either  with  a  hand  seeder  or  a  seeder  attached  to 
the  front  part  of  a  disc  drill.  The  seed  must  be  well 
covered  or  it  will  not  grow.  The  author  wishes  to  im- 
press upon  the  reader  the  importance  of  getting  the 
seed  deep  enough  into  the  ground,  or  well  covered,  as 
he  has  noticed  that  where  the  seed  was  covered  the  best 
that  the  stand  of  alfalfa  was  the  best.  The  author  is 
firmly  of  the  belief  that  the  majority  of  failures  in  se- 
curing a  stand  of  either  clover  or  alfalfa  are  occasioned 
by  failure  in  getting  seed  covered  a  sufficient  depth. 

The  best  time  to  sow  alfalfa  seed  is  from  the  first  to 
the  middle  of  August.  The  plant  will  reach  a  height 
of  seven  or  eight  inches  in  six  weeks.  At  this  stage 
many  claim  it  should  be  clipped  with  a  mower.  The 
author  has  practiced  the  clipping  of  baby  alfalfa  and 
has  also  allowed  it  to  grow  without  clipping  and  was 
unable  to  see  any  difference  in  either  method;  but  after 
the  first  season  alfalfa  must  be  mowed  at  the  proper 
stage,  which  is  when  new  shoots  begin  to  push  out  from 
the  plant  near  the  ground,  or  it  loses  its  vigor. 

Authorities  on  alfalfa  tell  us  that  the  alfalfa  plant 
when  first  started  must  get  its  nitrogen,  which  is  neces- 
sary to  its  life,  from  the  soil ;  that  after  the  plant  is  well 
established  it  draws  its  supply  of  nitrogen  from  the  air ; 
that  for  this  reason  you  must  have  your  soil  inoculated 
with  nitrogen-gathering  bacteria,  and  have  plenty  of 
nitrogen  in  the  soil  or  you  cannot  get  the  alfalfa  plant 
to  establish  itself.  Then,  if  this  is  true,  some  method 
must  be  used  to  secure  the  supply  of  nitrogen  and  nitro- 
gen-gathering bacteria  in  the  soil  intended  for  the  alfalfa 


ALFALFA  117 

field.  Various  methods  of  doing  this  are  given  by  al- 
falfa experts,  such  as  soil  inoculation  by  taking  soil 
from  alfalfa  fields  and  spreading  upon  the  field  before 
sowing  the  seed,  heavy  manuring,  sowing  alfalfa  meal 
with  the  seed,  and  feeding  alfalfa  hay  to  stock  a  year 
before  alfalfa  is  planted  and  using  the  manure  on  the 
field. 

The  author  has  never  been  impressed  with  the  inocu- 
lating method  of  securing  soil  from  an  alfalfa  field  and 
spreading  upon  the  field  intended  to  be  sown.  Upon 
that  proposition  he  is  "  from  Missouri  and  will  have  to 
be  shown,"  but  he  has  been  shown  that  manure  will  in- 
oculate for  alfalfa.  He  has  spread  manure  and  sown 
alfalfa  seed  upon  a  dead  furrow  where  the  soil  was  so 
poor  that  no  plant  would  grow  upon  it  and  secured  a 
stand  that  for  vigor  of  growth  exceeded  that  grown  upon 
good  ground. 

His  experience  has  also  taught  him  that  where  you 
can  not  procure  manure,  vetch  will  inoculate  the  soil  and 
make  alfalfa  grow  vigorously. 

The  author  in  his  chapter  on  vetch  spoke  of  ten  acres 
of  alfalfa  planted  in  June,  1909,  upon  clay  land  owned 
by  his  brother.  This  field  has  been  cleared  for  more 
than  sixty  years  and  has  been  farmed  until  it  was  worn- 
out.  As  stated,  it  was  planted  to  vetch  in  August,  1908, 
and  plowed  under  in  May,  1909,  before  it  had  ripened  its 
seed.  The  weeds  were  kept  down  by  frequent  cultiva- 
tion until  the  middle  of  June,  when  alfalfa  seed  was 
sown  at  the  rate  of  twenty  pounds  to  the  acre.  In  four 
weeks  the  alfalfa  was  six  or  eight  inches  in  height,  and 
was  clipped  with  the  mower,  clippings  left  lying  on  the 


Ii8  ALFALFA 

ground.  In  five  weeks  it  was  dipped  the  second  time. 
In  the  summer  of  1910  and  191 1  this  field  yielded  sev- 
eral cuttings  of  hay  and  yet  was  pastured  by  a  large 
number  of  hogs. 

If  the  season  is  favorable  as  to  plenty  of  moisture 
alfalfa  can  be  sown  in  April,  provided  it  is  sown  with 
barley  at  the  rate  of  one  bushel  of  barley  to  the  acre. 
Cut  the  barley  when  it  is  in  the  milk  and  cure  it  for  feed. 
It  makes  fine  feed.  If  the  season  is  dry  the  barley  will 
use  up  so  much  moisture  that  the  young  alfalfa  plants 
will  die. 

In  the  spring  of  1911,  which  was  very  dry,  the  author 
planted  a  field  to  alfalfa  and  barley  and  both  plants 
came  up  fine,  but  it  was  so  dry  that  the  barley  took  all 
the  moisture  and  the  young  alfalfa  plants  all  died  but  a 
few,  a  stand  was  only  secured  on  one  acre  of  the  field, 
and  that  portion  of  the  field  was  low  ground  and  in  it 
a  great  deal  of  organic  matter  had  been  plowed  under 
which  held  the  moisture. 

Good  stands  of  alfalfa  have  been  secured  by  sowing 
in  sweet  corn  after  the  corn  was  gathered  in  the  latter 
part  of  August,  but  the  seed  was  well  covered,  and  the 
season  was  favorable  in  the  way  of  moisture. 

The  use  of  ground  limestone  is  a  great  aid  in  secur- 
ing a  vigorous  growth  of  alfalfa,  but  in  the  majority  of 
farms  it  is  not  necessary  to  use  it. 

Alfalfa  will  so  build  up  and  restore  worn-out  soils 
that  large  crops  of  corn  can  be  grown  upon  them,  and 
will  so  maintain  the  fertility  of  average  soils  that  they 
will  not  become  worn. 

The  author's  personal  experience  with  this  plant  and 


ALFALFA  119 

his  observation  of  what  it  has  done  for  other  land  than 
his  own,  leads  him  to  urge  the  growing  of  this  plant  by 
every  farmer.  It  is  one  of  the  plants  that  should  be 
found  on  every  farm  for  it  never  fails  the  farmer,  no 
matter  what  the  season  may  be. 


^~  8 


N         o 


<   C/i   o 

CO   Si 

5ll 


ii  o 

>'2 


o  "-. 


CHAPTER  XII 

SWEET   CLOVER 

A  FEW  years  ago  a  plant  sprung  up  along  our 
roadsides  in  great  profusion.  It  grew  so  vig- 
orously and  spread  so  rapidly  that  farmers  be- 
came alarmed  and  feared  it  would  become  a  troublesome 
weed. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  plant  seldom  invaded  the 
cultivated  fields  or  rich  spots  of  the  farms.  It  was 
found  only  where  the  soil  was  the  thinnest  and  poorest. 

It  was  soon  discovered  that  this  plant  supposed  to  be 
a  noxious  weed,  was  designed  to  be  a  renovator  of  ex- 
hausted soils.  That  it  languished  and  died  on  a  fairly 
rich  soil,  but  grew  luxuriantly  on  soils  so  poor  that  noth- 
ing else  scarcely  would  grow  on  them. 

Thus  the  sweet  clover  plant  despised  and  rejected  at 
first,  at  last  became  a  chief  corner  stone  in  soil  restora- 
tion. 

When  planted  on  the  poorest  of  clay  soils  where  noth- 
ing grew,  it  soon  made  them  so  fertile  that  other  grasses 
came  and  smothered  out  the  clover.  It  has  been  known 
to  so  enrich  bottom  land  whose  top  soil  had  been  washed 
away  by  high  waters  that  60  to  75  bushels  of  corn  was 
again  grown  on  it.  It  has  reclaimed  poor,  much-washed 
hillsides. 

Years  ago  the  wreckage  of  a  Dutch  ship  was  cast 
123 


124  SWEET  CLOVER 

upon  the  raw,  white  beach  sand  of  King  Island,  located 
near  the  south  coast  of  Australia.  Among  the  wreckage 
were  some  mattresses  that  had  been  stuffed  with  sweet 
clover  which  contained  some  seed.  This  seed  fell  upon 
the  sandy  beaches  and  grew,  and  in  the  course  of  time 
spread  over  the  whole  of  the  coast  of  this  island  and 
transformed  it  from  an  island  of  useless  shifting  sand 
to  a  land  rich  in  grazing  for  cattle,  sheep  and  horses. 
This  wonderful  plant  by  its  almost  magical  enriching 
powers  has  made  of  the  white  sand  a  dark  brown  soil 
and  increased  its  value  a  hundredfold.  A  once  barren 
island  of  sand  now  exports  fat  cattle  and  dairy  produce 
and  fine  horses  of  the  finest  grades  and  quality  that  com- 
mand the  highest  prices  in  the  markets  of  Tasmania. 

The  powers  of  the  plant  as  a  soil  builder  is  simply  its 
ability  to  gather  from  the  air  and  store  into  the  soil  great 
quantities  of  nitrogen,  and  produce  through  its  root  and 
branch  system  great  quantities  of  organic  matter  esti- 
mated as  high  as  twenty  tons  to  the  acre. 

It  is  simply  a  great  nitrogen-gathering  and  organic 
matter  producing  plant,  and  herein  alone  lies  its  secret 
as  a  soil  builder.  And  while  the  author  has  never  ex- 
perimented with  this  plant,  he  is  satisfied  that  its  merits^ 
have  not  been  exaggerated,  because  any  plant  that  has 
the  capacity  to  draw  from  the  air  large  quantities  of 
nitrogen  and  which  produces  a  large  quantity  of  organic 
matter  in  its  foliage  and  root  system,  and  which  will  so 
readily  grow  on  poor  soil,  is  a  plant  whose  worth  as  a 
soil  builder  cannot  be  estimated. 

Any  one  possessing  lands  so  poor  that  nothing  will 
grow  on  them  should  not  hesitate  to  give  sweet  clover  a 


SWEET  CLOVER  125 

trial.  Do  not  worry  about  the  plant  becoming  a  noxious 
weed  on  the  farm.  It  will  only  grow  on  the  poor  lands 
and  these  lands  need  it. 

In  the  building  up  of  our  worn  soils  and  in  keeping  up 
the  fertility  of  our  fairly  rich  soils,  we  must  bring  to 
our  use  those  plants  that  will  gather  the  nitrogen  and 
furnish  the  most  organic  matter  and  the  best  soil-cover- 
ing material,  and  sweet  clover  seems  to  be  one  of  this 
kind  of  plants. 

The  author  has  written  the  chapter  on  sweet  clover  for 
this  edition  of  his  book  to  make  more  emphatic  to  his 
readers  the  fact,  that,  the  chief  lack  of  worn-out  soils 
is  nitrogen  and  organic  matter,  and  that  whenever  we 
make  use  of  those  plants,  upon  our  worn-out  soils  that 
gather  nitrogen  from  the  air  and  produce  great  quanti- 
ties of  organic  matter,  that  we  are  then  getting  on  the 
only  road  that  leads  us  to  soil  restoration. 


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CHAPTER  XIII 

RED    CLOVER 

WHEN  the  first  edition  of  this  book  was  pub- 
lished, the  author  was  frequently  asked  why 
he  had  not  written  a  chapter  on  red  clover, 
recommending  its  use  for  restoring  worn  and  worn-out 
soils. 

The  author's  answer  was,  "  Red  clover  was  evidently 
intended  to  be  used  for  the  maintahiing  of  the  fertility 
of  fertile  soils,  for  it  will  not  grow  and  flourish  on 
worn  and  worn-out  soils,  and,  as  my  book  treats  of  the 
worn  soil  problem,  I  could  not  prescribe  clover  as  a 
remedy  to  restore  worn-out  soils." 

Yet,  if  we  should  ask  the  farmer  to  name  the  best 
fertilizing  and  feeding  plant,  probably  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  thousand  would  promptly  an- 
swer, red  clover.  The  farmer  so  answers  because  he 
and  his  ancestors  have  for  centuries  made  use  of  this 
plant  for  fertilizing  and  feeding  purposes,  and  if  any 
one  questions  its  virtues  and  suggests  that  there  are 
many  other  plants  of  greater  fertilizing  and  feeding 
power,  he  is  denounced  as  a  deceiver,  and  the  plants 
named  for  a  substitute  are  denominated  false  pretenders 
and  cheap  imitators,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  there 
is  no  plant  grown  upon  the  farm  that  has  to  its  credit 
so  many  bad  points  as  clover, 
129 


I30  RED  CLOVER 

The  young  plant  is  tender  and  feeble,  so  millions  of 
dollars  are  lost  every  year  in  the  purchase  of  clover 
seed  that  starts  to  grow  only  to  die  from  the  effects  of 
drouth  or  atmospheric  changes.  Its  hay,  though  rich 
in  feeding  value,  gives  off  a  dust  distressing  and  in- 
jurious to  animals.  It  cannot  be  pastured  without  pro- 
ducing its  death-dealing  bloat. 

It  robs  the  soil  of  its  phosphorus  and  cannot  be 
grown  continuously  on  the  same  land  without  producing 
the  "  clover  sick  "  soils  upon  which  it  refuses  to  con- 
tinue to  grow,  and  it  spurns  the  attempt  to  make  it  estab- 
lish its  home  in  sandy,  compact  clay,  prairie  gumbo  or 
worn-out  soils,  where  it  is  needed  the  most. 

The  author  concedes  that  clover  is  valuable  for  main- 
taining the  fertility  of  soils  that  are  not  worn,  if  used  in 
the  right  manner. 

While  clover  grown  for  hay  and  seed  alone  may  draw 
nitrogen  into  the  soil  and  make  the  soil  loose  and  friable, 
and  thus  improve  soil  ventilation,  yet  it  must  take  valua- 
ble elements  from  the  soil  or  it  would  not,  after  a  time, 
refuse  to  grow  on  land  where  it  had  made  its  home  for 
several  years. 

If  it  had  all  the  virtues  claimed  for  it,  why  is  it  that 
in  the  regions  where  longest  and  mostly  used  we  have 
the  greatest  number  of  acres  of  worn  and  worn-out 
soils? 

The  author  points  the  reader  to  the  great  Volusia  re- 
gion with  its  acres  of  "  clover  sick "  and  abandoned 
soils,  where  loo  acres  in  1907  produced  tv/o  small  stacks 
of  clover  hay,  and  where  lands  that  sold  in  1803  for 
$37  per  acre,  in  1907  sold  for  $5  per  acre.     Lands  that 


RED  CLOVER  131 

were  abandoned  because  they  would  no  longer  grow 
clover  and  the  owners  did  not  seem  to  know  that  there 
were  other  plants  and  methods  that  would  restore  their 
lands.  Let  the  author  quote  what  was  said  by  a  Gov- 
ernment expert  about  one  of  these  Volusia  farms, 

"  In  1883  this  farm  produced  clover  hay  at  the  rate 
of  2^  tons  per  acre  for  the  first  cutting,  and  clover  seed 
from  the  second  growth  at  the  rate  of  four  bushels  per 
acre ;  nearly  $700  worth  of  grain  was  produced  and  sold, 
and  three  cows,  twenty  sheep,  and  a  team  kept.  The 
total  yield  of  all  crops  for  each  of  the  past  five  seasons 
grown  on  this  farm  would  not  support  more  than  twenty 
sheep  and  nothing  was  sold.  No  clover  is  grown,  and 
it  cannot  he  grown  by  the  methods  now  in  practice." 

He  further  said  of  these  Volusia  farms,  that  when 
they  were  first  cleared  they  brought  forth  large  crop 
yields  of  all  the  staple  grains.  That  there  was  no  diffi- 
cidty  in  growing  red  clover,  and  that  the  region  was  well 
populated  and  the  farms  were  prosperous. 

Another  expert  says  of  these  soils,  "  that  the  failure 
of  clover  to  grow  on  them  is  not  due  to  any  fungous 
disease  of  the  clover  plant,  nor  to  the  lack  of  the  proper 
kind  of  bacteria  in  the  soil,  or  to  other  influences  of  such 
a  character,  and  that  a  chemical  analysis  of  the  soil  by 
standard  methods  shows  a  sufficient  amount  of  the  com- 
mon plant-food  elements  for  successful  crop  growth." 

Upon  these  soils  where  clover  refuses  to  grow,  other 
crops  refuse  to  grow  as  well,  and  farms  are  being  aban- 
doned, buildings  are  going  to  decay  and  ruin. 

Some  of  these  same  conditions  to  a  considerable  extent 
abound  in  every  region  where  clover  is  grown.     Then 


132  RED  CLOVER 

if  clover  is  such  a  great  plant  for  maintaining  soil  fer- 
tility as  so  many  would  have  us  believe  it  is,  why  do 
we  have  the  conditions  enumerated?  Almost  every 
farmer  grows  or  attempts  to  grow  it,  and  with  the  vast 
quantities  that  has  been  so  long  grown,  our  farms  should 
show  a  high  state  of  fertility  if  there  be  the  fertilizing 
virtues  in  the  plant  claimed  by  its  advocates. 

It  is  said  that  "  Land  becomes  '  clover  sick '  only  in 
the  absence  of  a  proper  succession  of  crops,  and  the  ele- 
ments of  fertility  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  plant," 

There  is  some  element  in  the  soil  necessary  to  the  vig- 
orous growth  of  clover  that  is  soon  exhausted  or  our 
soils  would  not  refuse  to  grow  the  plant,  which  shows 
the  necessity  of  the  proper  handling  of  this  plant  with 
profit. 

Its  success  in  soil  building  is  only  attained  when  its 
entire  crop  is  left  upon  the  soil  or  plowed  under,  for 
then  it  returns  back  again  to  the  soil  every  element  it 
extracts  from  it,  and  gives  to  the  soil  the  element  it  ex- 
tracts from  the  atmosphere,  the  organic  matter  it  pro- 
duces and  the  advantage  of  its  covering. 

The  author  wishes  to  be  understood  as  advocating  the 
use  of  clover  when  it  can  be  grown,  but  he  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  say  that  it  is  not  a  success  as  a  first  aid  to  the 
restoration  of  worn-out  soils.  If  it  could  be  made  to 
grow  on  worn-out  soils,  and  was  not  cut  for  either  hay 
or  seed,  but  its  entire  crop  plowed  under  at  the  proper 
time,  it  would  then  be  a  valuable  aid  in  building  up  our 
worn-out  soils.  And  it  must  be  used  in  the  same  man- 
ner or  with  a  proper  crop  rotation  if  cut  for  hay  or 


RED  CLOVER  133 

seed,  upon  our  fertile  farms,  if  we  would  save  them 
from  the  doom  of  "  clover  sick  "  soils. 

To  get  the  best  growth  of  clover  we  must  have  vegeta- 
ble or  organic  matter  in  the  soil.  The  author  is  of  the 
opinion  that  herein  lies  the  secret  of  the  cause  of  "  clover 
sick "  soils,  they  lack  the  necessary  organic  matter  to 
produce  the  necessary  soil  ventilation  and  food  to  pre* 
pare  a  suitable  home  for  the  soil  bacteria  that  clover 
must  have  for  its  successful  growth. 

The  author  has  been  watching  a  series  of  experiments 
being  conducted  on  some  worn-out  clay  lands  that  were 
"  clover  sick."  Years  ago  all  the  organic  matter  had  been 
farmed  out  of  these  lands.  Organic  matter  was  again 
put  into  these  lands  by  the  growing  of  rye,  vetch,  sor- 
ghum and  the  use  of  manure,  and  all  plowed  under  as 
deep  as  possible  with  a  disc  plow,  and  planted  to  corn, 
and  again  planted  to  rye  and  vetch  and  the  entire  crop 
of-  cornstalks,  rye  and  vetch  plowed  under  again.  After 
a  few  years  of  this  method  of  getting  organic  matter 
into  this  soil  it  was  in  such  condition  that  fine  crops  of 
clover  have  been  produced  upon  them.  And  that  part 
of  these  lands  upon  which  no  manure  was  put,  but  only 
crops  of  rye,  vetch,  sorghum  and  cornstalks  were  plowed 
under,  grew  clover  as  well  as  the  manured  parts. 

The  successful  growing  and  judicious  use  of  clover 
on  the  farm  only  makes  it  a  valuable  fertilizing  crop  to 
the  farmer.  A  judicious  use  of  clover  means  that  if  the 
farmer  thinks  he  must  grow  it  for  hay  or  seed,  then  he 
must  follow  it  with  other  crops  that  will  either  produce 
organic  matter  or  allow  the  use  of  other  organic  matter 


134  RED  CLOVER 

producing  plants,  so  that  a  supply  of  organic  matter  may 
be  secured  for  his  soil. 

The  most  powerful  way  to  use  clover  is  to  allow  one 
clover  crop  to  grow  and  die  and  then  plow  it  under  dry 
the  following  spring. 

In  this  manner  you  would  get  the  additional  great 
benefits  of  soil  covering.  Another  effective  method  is 
to  allow  it  to  come  into  full  bloom  then  cut  it,  leaving 
it  lying  on  the  ground  for  the  second  crop  to  come  up 
through  it,  then  cut  the  second  crop  so  that  it  will  have 
some  time  to  decay  before  plowing  it  in  for  wheat. 
Either  of  these  two  methods  of  handling  the  clover  crop 
will  so  enrich  the  soil  that  the  effects  will  linger  for 
years. 

An  illustration  is  given  of  a  Pennsylvania  farmer 
who,  after  great  effort,  succeeded  in  getting  a  stand  of 
clover  upon  the  light  colored  soil  of  one  of  his  poor 
worn-out  fields  and  then  turned  the  field  back  to  Nature 
as  it  were,  kept  all  his  stock  out  of  it,  and  allowed  the 
clover  to  grow  and  reseed  itself  for  several  years.  When 
the  field  was  finally  plowed  it  was  found  that  the  soil 
had  become  black  for  the  depth  of  nearly  a  foot,  and 
was  so  enriched  that  it  produced  large  crops  for  many 
years  afterwards.  And  herein  is  a  valuable  lesson  for 
the  American  farmer  if  he  will  but  learn  it.  The  lesson, 
that  man  must  follow  Nature's  way  of  soil  building  if 
he  would  restore  or  keep  up  the  fertility  of  the  soil. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    author's    method    OF    RESTORING    WORN    AND 
WORN-OUT    SOILS 

IT  is  said  you  cannot  "  eat  your  cake  and  yet  have 
it."  So  some  will  say  you  cannot  restore  worn-out 
soils  and  at  the  same  time  grow  profitable  crops 
upon  them.  That  worn-out  soils  can  only  be  restored 
by  expensive  methods  and  years  must  elapse  before  any 
profitable  crops  can  be  grown  upon  them. 

The  author  has  demonstrated  that  you  can  "  eat  your 
cake  and  yet  have  it."  That  worn-out  soils  can  be  re- 
stored and  yet  at  the  very  time  you  are  engaged  in  the 
process  of  restoring  them  you  can  grow  profitable  crops 
upon  them. 

When  he  came  into  possession  of  his  "  Vetchfalfa 
Farm,"  it  was,  as  heretofore  stated,  one  of  the  poorest 
in  the  county.  In  the  entire  six  years  he  has  owned  it, 
he  has  made  it  pay  each  year,  after  deducting  all  ex- 
penses and  taxes,  a  profit  of  6  per  cent,  per  annum. 
He  has  increased  its  value  from  $75  per  acre  to  $150  per 
acre,  for  he  has  been  offered  the  latter  sum  for  it. 

So  if  the  author  had  placed  in  his  possession  worn  or 
worn-out  soils  he  would  proceed  to  restore  them  in  the 
following  manner: 

If  he  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  a  canning  factory  that 
canned  peas  and  sugar  corn,  he  would  first  see  that  the 
137 


138  RESTORING  WORN-OUT  SOILS 

soil  was  thoroughly  ditched ;  then  would  plow  it  as  early 
in  the  spring  as  possible  and  plant  to  early  peas.  The 
crop  ought  to  be  ready  to  remove  by  June  15.  They 
have  been  removed  as  early  as  June  10. 

Immediately  after  the  peas  were  harvested,  he  would 
have  the  ground  thoroughly  disced  and  planted  to  sugar 
corn.  This  crop  should  be  well  cultivated  and  kept  clear 
of  weeds. 

If  the  soil  w^as  much  worn  it  is  probable  you  would 
only  receive  from  the  crop  of  peas  and  sugar  corn 
enough  money  to  pay  expenses,  but  you  would  be  well 
started  on  the  road  of  soil  restoration,  and  that  start 
must  be  made. 

Early  in  August  he  would  plant  in  the  sugar  corn 
either  vetch  or  rye.  His  preference  would  be  vetch 
always. 

Under  no  circumstances  would  he  pasture  the  stalks  of 
sweet  corn,  although  they  are  of  great  value  for  this 
purpose,  but  you  must  remember  that  you  are  engaged 
in  the  business  of  soil  building,  so  do  not  let  greed  get 
the  upper  hand.  Leave  the  stalks  alone  for  plowing 
under  with  the  vetch. 

In  the  spring  of  next  season,  about  the  ist  of  May 
he  would  plow  under  the  vetch  and  stalks,  and  about  the 
loth  of  May  plant  to  field  corn,  giving  same  thorough 
cultivation,  and  when  same  was  plowed  the  last  time, 
would  sow  to  rye  or  vetch.  In  this  case  he  would  as 
soon  sow  rye  as  vetch. 

He  would  not  allow  the  corn  or  rye  to  be  pastured, 
and  the  following  spring  would  plow  the  whole  under 
and  plant  again  to  field  corn.     Both  these  crops  of  field 


RESTORING  WORN-OUT  SOILS  139 

corn  he  knows  would  produce  to  your  surprise  and  the 
surprise  of  your  neighbors,  and  you  would  be  well  along 
on  the  highway  of  building  up  your  soil. 

After  the  second  crop  of  field  corn  the  soil  could  be 
planted  to  wheat,  followed  with  clover. 

If  you  do  not  live  in  the  vicinity  of  a  canning  factory, 
then  your  first  planting  could  be  either  cowpeas  or  hun- 
garian,  but  these  crops  should  be  turned  under  before 
the  ripening  of  their  seed,  and  the  soil  sown  to  rye  or 
vetch;  the  author's  preference  would  be  vetch. 

The  following  spring  plow  up  and  plant  to  field  corn, 
the  same  at  laying-by  time  to  be  planted  either  to  vetch 
or  rye,  and  the  next  season  to  be  plowed  up  and  put  in 
corn,  to  be  followed  with  wheat  and  clover,  the  clover 
to  be  plowed  under. 

The  author  knows  that  this  method  of  soil  building 
will  work  grandly,  for  he  has  tried  it. 

With  this  method  the  author  can  in  two  seasons  grow 
from  50  to  100  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre  on  most  any 
worn-out  soils. 

On  fairly  good  soils  results  will  astonish  you. 

If  you  wish  to  start  alfalfa  on  a  piece  of  worn  soil, 
and  live  near  a  canning  factory,  sow  to  peas  as  directed 
and  follow  with  sweet  corn  and  vetch;  keep  oif  stock 
and  plow  under  vetch  before  ripening  of  the  seed,  and 
keep  cultivating  your  ground  until  middle  of  July  or 
first  of  August  and  sow  to  alfalfa.  Clip  the  alfalfa 
when  five  or  six  inches  high,  leaving  clippings  on  the 
ground,  and  clip  again  before  winter  if  growth  should 
be  considerable,  or  allow  it  to  grow  the  first  season  with- 
out clipping. 


I40  RESTORING  WORN-OUT  SOILS 

If  you  do  not  live  near  a  canning  factory,  sow  Hun- 
garian, and  if  ground  is  much  worn,  plow  under  before 
seed  ripens  and  sow  to  vetch.  But  if  soil  is  fairly  rich, 
cut  the  Hungarian  for  hay  just  as  seed  has  formed,  and 
then  disc  thoroughly  and  sow  to  vetch. 

The  following  spring,  in  either  of  the  above  cases, 
plow  under  the  vetch  before  it  ripens  its  seed.  Keep 
the  ground  cultivated  until  you  are  ready  to  sow  the  al- 
falfa seed,  which  may  be  any  time  from  the  middle  of 
July  to  the  first  of  August,  the  earlier  the  better.  If 
you  use  care  in  selecting  and  sowing  your  alfalfa  seed, 
you  will  obtain  a  splendid  stand  and  crop  of  alfalfa. 

In  case  you  plow  under  your  Hungarian  you  lose  a 
year's  crop,  but  suppose  you  do ;  you  gain  more  than  you 
lose  in  the  fertility  you  gain  and  the  condition  in  which 
you  get  your  soil. 

If  your  soil  is  not  poor  and  you  cut  your  Hungarian, 
you  will  get  a  vast  quantity  of  fine  hay,  which,  as  stated, 
the  author  regards  as  the  best  hay  that  can  be  grown  on 
the  farm,  alfalfa  alone  excepted. 

Peas,  Hungarian  and  vetch  planted  in  the  manner 
stated  blaze  the  way  through  the  perplexities  of  com- 
pact, non-inoculated  soils  to  successful  alfalfa  growing. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  it ;  try  it  and  see. 

The  author  has  elsewhere  stated  that  it  is  a  great  mis- 
take to  allow  soils  to  be  idle.  There  is  only  one  ex- 
ception, and  that  is  when  you  are  starting  a  blue  grass 
pasture. 

The  soil  should  ever  be  occupied  in  growing  a  crop 
intended  either  for  grain,  feeding  or  plowing  under. 

Field  corn,  after  it  is  laid  by,  ought  always  to  be  sown 


RESTORING  WORN-OUT  SOILS  141 

with  vetch,  rye  or  clover,  even  if  same  field  is  to  be  put 
in  corn  the  next  season. 

If  wheat  ground  is  to  be  followed  with  corn,  the  same 
should  be  disced  or  broken  immediately  after  wheat  is 
removed  and  sown  to  vetch  or  rye,  the  same  to  be 
plowed  under  in  the  spring. 

By  following  this  plan  you  gain  the  advantage  of 
tillage,  soil  covering,  and  getting  organic  matter  in  the 
soil. 

The  author's  secret  in  restoring  his  "  Vetch fal  fa 
Farm  "  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  has  each  and  every  year 
produced  and  plowed  under  large  crops  of  organic  mat- 
ter. He  has  never  allowed  any  of  his  corn  fields  to  be 
pastured  and  has  always  sown  them  to  vetch  or  rye  after 
the  corn  was  laid  by,  and  then  the  following  spring 
plowed  under  the  cornstalks,  rye  and  vetch.  He  has 
banished  timothy  from  the  farm  and  grown  alfalfa  and 
hungarian  for  hay.  He  has  also  plowed  under  hun- 
garian  and  above  all  he  has  spared  the  match  and  plowed 
under  every  weed  that  escaped  cultivation  and  every 
cornstalk  grown  on  the  farm  —  this,  supplemented  with 
an  abundance  of  green  manuring,  soil  covering  and  some 
manure,  has  so  restored  the  soil  of  this  farm  that  it 
produces  bumper  crops  of  corn,  potatoes  and  any  crop 
the  author  wishes  to  grow  upon  it. 


1 

r 

o.  „ 


CHAPTER  XV 

KING  CORN 

CORN  has  been  proclaimed  the  King  of  all  Cere- 
als, and  who  can  dispute  his  title  ? 
While  corn  is  of  one  species,  its  varieties  are 
numerous.  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  useful 
plants  that  grows.  Owing  to  its  being  so  common,  we 
lose  sight  of  its  beauty,  yet  in  parts  of  the  world  it  is 
cultivated  as  an  ornamental  plant. 

More  people  eat  corn  than  any  other  grain  except  rice. 

Corn  is  the  farmer's  best  crop,  because  it  not  only  fur- 
nishes food  for  himself  and  beasts,  but  returns  the  most 
money  for  the  least  labor  and  expense  of  any  crop  on 
the  farm. 

Corn  is  not  adapted  to  all  climates.  But  while  it  is 
affected  by  climate  and  soil,  yet  by  continuous  cultiva- 
tion from  the  same  seed,  year  after  year,  it  can  be  made 
to  establish  itself  in  most  any  locality. 

Corn,  being  distinctly  an  American  plant,  is  produced 
chiefly  on  American  soil.  But  not  all  our  soils  will 
produce  corn.  The  "  corn  belt "  is  limited,  embracing 
chiefly  the  great  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa, 
Nebraska,  Kansas  and  Missouri.  Other  states  grow  it, 
but  not  to  the  extent  of  the  states  mentioned. 

There  was  produced  in  the  corn  belt  in  the  year  1909 
145 


146  KING  CORN 

2,772,367,000  bushels  of  corn,  and  yet  the  price  of  corn 
is  high,  showing  that  the  uses  of  corn  are  large. 

The  consumption  capacity  of  the  world  for  corn  is  so 
great  that  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  danger  of  an 
overproduction.  In  fact,  the  demand  for  corn  is  greater 
than  the  supply,  or  the  price  would  not  be  so  high  as  it 
is  now. 

On  account  of  our  soils  losing  in  fertility,  the  average 
bushels  per  acre  is  not  increasing  as  it  should. 

If  corn  is  the  easiest,  cheapest  and  best  money-making 
crop  grown  on  the  farm,  then  farmers  should  become 
enthusiastic  over  any  method  that  will  bring  about  a 
greater  yield  per  acre. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  I  have  shown  the  original 
process  of  soil  building  and  the  best  methods  of  soil 
restoration. 

The  methods  of  soil  building  I  have  detailed  are  not 
chimerical,  but  are  real,  practical,  cheap  and  at  the  com- 
mand of  every  American  farmer.  They  will  put  your 
soil  in  the  right  condition  to  grow  100  bushels  of  corn 
per  acre. 

While  good  soil  well  prepared  as  a  seed  bed  is  the  very 
foundation  of  a  good  corn  crop,  it  is  not  the  only  thing 
needed  to  produce  a  large  crop.  You  must  have  good 
seed.  Seed  selection  is  important  in  any  crop.  The  loss 
occasioned  by  poor  seed  is  enormous,  and  it  can  all  be 
avoided  with  a  little  care. 

Too  many  of  us  depend  on  our  seedsmen,  and  as  they 
assume  no  liability  on  account  of  poor  seed,  we  are  help- 
less if  our  seeds  prove  to  be  bad. 


KING  CORN  147 

The  author  purchases  every  year  for  his  own  growing 
seeds  amounting  to  thousands  of  dollars,  and  his  long 
experience  in  the  purchase  and  growing  of  seeds  has 
persuaded  him  that  there  ought  to  be  a  drastic  law  regu- 
lating the  selling  of  seeds.  There  are  so  many  dishonest 
persons  dealing  with  dishonest  seeds  that  the  honest 
dealer  is  often  imposed  upon,  but  under  present  methods 
the  grower  suffers  the  entire  loss  of  poor,  unreliable 
seeds. 

Wherever  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  the  farmer  should 
grow  his  own  seed  crop.  When  it  is  necessary  to  pur- 
chase, deal  only  with  reliable  persons  and  houses. 

Seed  corn  is  so  easily  grown  and  cared  for.  It  is  said 
that  the  best  time  to  begin  selecting  seed  corn  is  while 
you  are  cultivating  the  corn,  by  noticing  the  most  prom- 
ising stalks  and  ears ;  but  as  we  are  usually  too  busy  at 
this  time  to  do  this,  the  practical  time  to  select  is  at  husk- 
ing time. 

In  selecting  seed  corn,  the  stalks  and  husks  should  be 
first  noticed.  The  ear  should  be  on  the  stalk  at  a 
medium  height  from  the  ground,  and  the  ear  should  bend 
downward. 

The  husks  should  cover  the  ear  entirely.  The  follow- 
ing rules  for  selecting  good  seed  corn  are  as  good  as  any 
that  can  be  given : 

"  The  ear  should  be  full  and  strong  in  middle  portion. 
The  circumference  in  the  middle  should  be  about  three- 
fourths  of  the  length  of  the  ear. 

"  The  rows  of  kernels  should  be  straight,  and  not  less 
than  16  nor  more  than  22  in  number. 


148  KING  CORN 

"  The  length  of  ear  should  be  not  less  than  8^  inches. 

"  White  cob  in  yellow  corn  or  red  cob  in  white  corn 
disqualifies. 

"  Twelve  or  more  foreign  kernels  disqualifies. 

"  The  kernel  should  be  twice  as  long  as  it  is  broad  and 
of  medium  size.  The  edges  should  be  nearly  straight, 
so  as  to  leave  only  a  slight  crease  between  rows  on  out- 
side of  ear. 

"  There  should  be  no  space  between  the  tips  of  the 
kernels,  either  on  sides  or  edges. 

"  Kernel  indentation  should  be  regular  and  fairly  deep, 
but  not  pinched,  which  would  make  crown  chaffy.  The 
kernels  should  be  uniform  in  shape  and  size. 

"  The  ear  should  be  firm  and  sound.  The  germ  should 
be  well  developed,  indicating  strong  vitality." 

Seed  corn  should  never  be  exposed  to  freezing 
weather  unless  it  be  thoroughly  dry,  and  should  be  put 
in  a  dry  place,  where  ventilation  is  perfect. 

The  time  and  method  of  gathering  seed  corn,  as  given 
by  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  of  Purdue  Uni- 
versity, is  so  practical  and  good  that  we  quote  them  in 
full: 

"  To  get  the  best  seed  corn  it  should  be  selected  in  the 
field  after  it  has  matured  and  while  the  characters  of 
the  parent  stalk  can  be  observed.  This  can  be  done  to 
the  best  advantage  by  going  through  the  field  after  the 
corn  is  mature  and  before  the  general  harvest  begins 
and  picking  ears  of  good  size  and  quality  from  the  stalks 
that  are  strong  and  vigorous  looking,  but  not  coarse. 
There  should  be  a  large  leaf  development.  The  leaf  is 
the  laboratory  of  the  plant  where  the  food  it  gathers  is 


KING  CORN  149 

manufactured.  The  stalk  should  be  of  medium  size, 
strong  at  the  base  and  tapering  gradually  to  the  tassel. 
It  should  stand  up  well  and  bear  its  ears  at  a  convenient 
height  for  husking.  The  shank  should  be  of  medium 
length  and  strength.  A  short  shank  holds  the  ear  too 
erect,  while  a  long  shank  allows  it  to  hang  over  too  far. 
Ears  on  long  shanks  or  high  up  on  the  stalk  are  more 
likely  to  pull  down  the  stalk  during  a  wind  storm,  be- 
sides being  inconvenient  to  husk.  The  ears  selected 
should  be  strong  and  well  developed,  with  straight  rows 
of  regular  sized  kernels.  The  kernels  should  be  rather 
deeply  dented.  The  smoother  kernels  are  generally  shal- 
low and  will  not  produce  so  well.  The  seed  ears  should 
always  be  a  little  rougher  than  the  average  of  the  crop, 
otherwise  the  variety  will  become  smoother  each  year 
and  the  kernels  shallower.  The  dent,  however,  should 
run  squarely  across  the  kernel,  and  there  should  be  no 
sharp  or  pointed  margins. 

"  Seed  corn  should  never  be  picked  before  it  is  mature. 
An  immature  kernel  has  not  had  time  to  store  up  all 
the  food  it  wanted,  and  consequently  will  be  more  or  less 
weak  in  vitality.  Early  picked  corn,  if  well  preserved, 
may  germinate  well  under  favorable  conditions,  but  its 
constitution  has  been  weakened,  and  the  yield  will  be 
correspondingly  lessened.  Nature  should  be  allowed  to 
ripen  the  seed  in  her  own  way. 

"  Selecting  seed  corn  from  the  crib  is  always  objec- 
tionable. The  vitality  has  generally  been  more  or  less 
injured,  and,  while  the  ears  selected  may  have  a  good 
appearance,  one  can  tell  nothing  as  to  the  character  of 
the    stalks    which    produced    them.     Numerous    experi- 


150  KING  CORN 

ments  have  shown  that  crib  corn  produces  smaller  yields 
than  corn  that  has  been  properly  selected  in  the  field  and 
well  preserved  through  the  winter. 

"  The  quantity  of  seed  corn  selected  from  the  field 
should  always  be  considerably  more  than  will  be  needed 
for  planting,  so  that  there  may  be  room  for  further  and 
more  critical  selection  later  on.  If  the  quantity  of  seed 
ears  selected  before  the  general  husking  is  insufficient,  it 
is  a  good  plan  to  have  a  small  box  attached  to  the  out- 
side of  the  wagon  box  into  which  desirable  seed  ears 
found  while  husking  can  be  put." 

When  you  buy  seed  corn,  get  it  on  the  ear  and  from 
a  place  in  your  same  latitude,  and  an  early  variety. 

All  seed  corn  should  be  tested  before  planting.  The 
importance  of  this  is  seen  when  we  consider  that  gen- 
erally farmers  do  not  get  more  than  an  average  of  75 
per  cent,  of  a  stand  of  corn,  when  the  average  should 
not  be  less  than  95  per  cent.  After  corn  has  once  been 
planted  it  is  generally  too  late  to  replant  the  entire  field 
if  the  stand  is  poor,  and  I  have  never  known  replanted 
corn  in  missing  hills  to  make  anything  more  than  fodder. 

The  method  of  testing  seed  as  given  by  the  Purdue 
University  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  is  as  follows : 

"  There  are  many  simple  methods  of  making  the 
germination  test,  but  in  all  cases  each  ear  should  be 
tested  by  itself.  Experiments  have  shown  that  as  a  rule 
the  testing  of  a  few  kernels  picked  at  random  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  ear  will  safely  determine  whether  or 
not  the  ear  should  be  used  for  seed.  About  five  kernels 
should  be  taken  from  each  ear  and  kept  separate,  and  the 
ear  from  which  they  came  must  be  marked  in  such  a  way 


KING  CORN  151 

that  it  can  be  readily  located  after  the  test  is  made.  In 
selecting  the  kernels  for  the  test,  take  one  from  near  the 
butt,  three  from  various  parts  of  the  middle  portion,  and 
one  from  near  the  tip.  Look  for  elevated  or  swollen 
spots  on  the  ear  from  which  to  take  the  kernels.  If 
there  are  any  weak  germs,  they  are  likely  to  be  found  on 
the  swollen  spots,  because  there  the  cob  was  probably 
more  or  less  spongy  and  retained  moisture  after  the  rest 
of  the  ear  was  dry  and  out  of  danger  of  being  injured. 

"  The  requisites  for  germination  are  moisture,  warmth 
and  air.  Any  chamber  or  vessel  in  which  these  can  be 
provided  will  answer  the  purpose.  The  exact  method 
employed  will  be  largely  a  matter  of  convenience.  An 
ordinary  dinner  plate  with  a  double  fold  of  moistened 
muslin  between  which  the  kernels  can  be  laid,  covered 
with  another  plate  to  prevent  too  rapid  drying,  makes  a 
very  good  germinating  chamber.  A  shallow  box  into 
which  several  lots  of  kernels  may  be  laid  between  folds 
of  moistened  paper  and  covered  with  a  lid  will  do.  A 
shallow  box  containing  moist  earth  or  sawdust  in  which 
the  kernels  may  be  planted  may  also  be  handy.  In  any 
case  the  tester  should  be  put  in  a  warm  place,  but  not 
too  near  the  stove.  The  temperature  of  the  ordinary 
living  room  is  about  right,  provided  that  it  does  not  be- 
come colder  than  55  degrees  during  the  night." 

After  seed  has  been  properly  saved  and  tested,  and 
having  your  soil  built  up  in  the  manner  I  have  detailed 
in  previous  chapters,  the  next  important  step  is  the 
preparation  of  the  seed  bed. 

In  a  previous  chapter  I  showed  the  importance  of 
breaking  up  the  soil  at  the  right  time,  and  assuming  that 


152  KING  CORN 

that  is  done  properly,  the  same  should  be  worked  down 
to  as  nearly  level  as  possible  immediately  after  plowing. 
The  best  plan  is  to  run  over  each  half-day's  plowing  with 
some  good  pulverizer.  A  level,  well-pulverized  surface 
absorbs  heat  and  retains  moisture,  both  essential  to  good 
corn  growth. 

A  pulverizer  should  be  used  that  will  pulverize  the 
soil  to  a  depth  of  at  least  three  inches. 

Where  soil  is  dry  at  plowing  time,  or  where  a  heavy 
coating  of  green  crops  or  organic  matter  has  been  plowed 
under,  I  would  advise  the  use  of  a  roller  or  drag  before 
using  a  pulverizer.  No  time  is  lost  by  running  the 
pulverizer  over  your  fields  in  opposite  directions.  We 
all  hurry  too  much  in  preparing  the  seed  bed.  If  we 
would  run  the  pulverizer  over  our  fields  a  dozen  times, 
or  for  a  week  before  planting,  it  would  more  than  pay 
us  for  the  time  spent.  Our  soil  would  be  level,  mellow 
and  in  good  tilth.  The  planter  could  be  run  with  ease 
and  at  a  uniform  depth,  and  the  seed  would  be  placed 
in  a  bed  of  warm,  moist  earth,  surrounded  by  every  con- 
dition conducive  to  quick,  healthy  growth,  thus  securing 
a  better  stand  of  corn.  The  growth  of  weeds  would  be 
so  checked  that  the  corn  would  have  a  chance  to  reach 
the  cultivating  stage  before  they  were  of  any  size. 

Having  the  seed  bed  in  proper  condition,  the  next  im- 
portant step  is  planting.  In  the  main  part  of  the  corn 
belt  the  best  time  to  plant  is  between  the  ist  and  loth  of 
May.  As  a  rule,  planting  cannot  be  done  with  safety 
before  May  i  unless  the  spring  is  early  and  the  soil  is  in 
excellent  condition  as  to  dryness  and  warmth.  In  the 
south  part  of  the  corn  belt  planting  may  be  earlier.     It 


KING  CORN  153 

is  not  infrequently  the  case  that  good  seed  will  fail  to 
grow  when  planted  too  early  or  when  the  soil  is  too  moist 
and  cold.  Heat,  air  and  moisture  cause  the  growth  of 
seeds,  and  the  seeds  must  have  just  the  right  proportion 
of  each;  too  much  of  either  one  is  injurious  to  the  plant. 

The  earth  should  be  pressed  firmly  over  the  seed, 
which  causes  the  moisture  to  come  in  contact  with  the 
outer  covering  of  the  seed  and  produces  a  sufficient 
amount  of  heat  by  preventing  air  circulating  too  freely 
around  the  seed.  The  seed  placed  in  the  soil  under 
favorable  conditions  commences  to  grow  at  once. 

Again,  corn  should  not  be  planted  too  deeply. 

In  my  long  experience  in  growing  sweet  corn  I  have 
learned  that  two-thirds  of  the  poor  stands  may  be  at- 
tributed entirely  to  too  deep  planting.  I  make  it  a  rule 
to  plant  not  over  one  inch  in  depth,  and  when  seed  is 
good  always  get  95  per  cent,  and  over  of  a  stand. 
Planted  five  inches  in  depth,  the  seed  will  not  germinate 
5  per  cent.  The  same  is  true  as  to  field  corn.  A  cover- 
ing of  one  inch  is  sufficient.  Covered  three  inches  or 
more,  growth  is  unhealthy  and  not  rapid. 

Corn  has  two  sets  of  roots,  one  above  the  surface  and 
the  other  underground.  The  ones  above  the  surface  are 
the  brace  roots,  and  do  not  perform  their  functions  until 
the  plant  is  of  considerable  size,  generally  not  until  the 
corn  is  laid  by.  These  roots  are  important  to  corn 
growth,  because  they  push  out  and  penetrate  deeply  into 
the  ground  at  a  time  when  the  corn  plant  is  bearing  its 
harvest  and  needs  to  be  supported  from  the  onslaught  of 
winds  and  storms. 

These  brace  roots  shoot  out  from  the  plant  above  its 


154  KING  CORN 

first  joint,  about  an  inch  above  the  grain.  Plant  the 
grain  too  deep,  a  new  and  unnatural  joint  must  be 
formed  at  the  surface  (it  is  never  formed  under  the  sur- 
face), from  which  the  brace  roots  begin  to  grow.  This 
new  joint-forming  process  stays  the  growth  of  the  plant 
until  the  new  joint  is  formed. 

Heretofore  I  have  tried  to  impress  upon  my  readers 
the  fact  that  we  should  study  Nature's  ways  of  doing 
things,  so  that  we  may  avoid  doing  that  which  crosses 
her,  for  if  we  do  we  pay  the  penalty. 

A  study  of  corn  growth  will  convince  any  student  of 
nature  that  corn  is  injured  when  its  seed  is  planted  to 
a  greater  depth  than  one  inch.  If  this  be  true,  then  the 
practice  of  planting  corn  in  a  furrow  and  filling  the 
furrow  by  cultivation  is  wrong. 

Next  to  planting  the  corn  the  proper  depth  is  a  good 
corn  planter  with  which  to  plant  the  seed. 

A  poor  corn  planter  is  about  the  worst  nuisance  on  the 
farm.  Get  the  best  that  can  be  procured,  and  consign 
all  poor  ones  to  the  scrap  heap. 

In  selecting  seed  corn  discard  tips  and  butts  and  run 
seed  through  a  grader  so  same  is  of  uniform  size  before 
using  in  planter.  The  planter  should  be  set  for  planting 
two  grains  to  the  hill. 

Extra  strong  soil  will  mature  three  grains  to  the  hill, 
but  under  all  conditions  I  have  found  that  it  is  best  to 
only  plant  two  grains  to  the  hill ;  but  in  planting  two 
grains  to  the  hill  it  is  very  important  that  you  have  good 
seed  or  your  stand  may  be  poor. 

Between  planting  and  cultivating  there  elapses  gen- 
erally two  weeks.     Sometimes,  on  account  of  rains,  this 


KING  CORN  155 

time  may  be  extended,  especially  if  our  soils  are  natu- 
rally wet  and  not  well  drained.  When  it  is  possible  to 
work  the  soil  we  should  not  be  idle  during  this  time. 
We  must  not  forget  that  a  crust  on  the  soil  causes  the 
soil  moisture  to  evaporate  very  rapidly.  A  loose  soil 
prevents  this  and  absorbs  moisture  from  the  air. 

An  insufficient  quantity  of  available  moisture  is  a  great 
cause  for  short  crops,  hence  the  importance  of  doing  that 
which  will  conserve  the  moisture  so  the  corn  roots  will 
absorb  it. 

Nothing  conserves  moisture  in  the  soil  like  a  soil  mulch. 
This  soil  mulch  is  the  great  secret  of  corn  cultivation. 
A  large  crop  of  corn  cannot  be  grown  without  it,  so  the 
necessity  of  beginning  to  create  soil  mulch  in  the  earlier 
stage  of  corn  growing,  or  between  planting  and  culti- 
vating time.  It  will  practically  stop  all  moisture  evap- 
oration from  the  surface  of  the  soil,  and  stirring  the  soil 
will  kill  the  weeds,  so  to  procure  this  soil  mulch  the 
harrow  or  pulverizer  should  be  run  over  the  planted  corn 
before  the  corn  sprout  has  pushed  its  way  through  the 
soil. 


■ 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^y*^   '     1       ^^^B 

H 

1 

r^S 

piyin 

>*■ 

L.^ 

WELL!  I  WONDER  WHICH  IS  THE  BEST  SEED  EAR.' 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   CULTURE   OF   CORN 

CORN  can  only  reach  its  highest  stage  of  develop- 
ment when  it  is  properly  cultivated.  The  corn 
root  is  the  mouth  of  the  corn  plant,  as  its  food 
is  collected  from  the  soil  and  fed  to  it  through  its  roots, 
hence  the  necessity  of  protecting  the  corn  roots  and  put- 
ting about  them  the  environments  essential  to  their  best 
development  and  growth. 

The  corn  roots  must  be  protected  so  they  can  perform 
their  functions  of  collecting  plant  food  undisturbed. 

Any  method  of  cultivation  that  destroys  any  portion  of 
the  corn  roots  is  disastrous  to  the  corn  plant,  and  reduces 
the  yield  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  roots  destroyed. 

Eminent  professors  of  corn  culture  have  by  experi- 
ments proven  that  corn  roots  pruned  to  the  depth  of 
three  inches,  six  inches  from  the  hill,  cut  the  yield  six 
bushels  to  the  acre,  and  four  inches  deep,  eighteen  bush- 
els to  the  acre. 

Cultivating  deep  and  tearing  off  the  corn  roots  after 
the  second  cultivation  will  decrease  the  yield  from  three 
to  twenty  bushels  to  the  acre ;  so  any  method  of  corn 
cultivation  that  destroys  the  roots  must  be  abandoned  if 
we  would  secure  the  highest  and  best  yield. 

As  to  the  two  first  cultivations,  corn  may  be  cultivated 
159 


i6o  THE  CULTURE  OF  CORN 

deeply,  but  after  that  the  cultivation  should  not  exceed 
one  or  two  inches  in  depth. 

Corn  roots  must  have  plenty  of  moisture,  and  they 
seek  this  moisture  near  the  surface.  During  the  grow- 
ing season  the  corn  plant  will  absorb  its  own  weight  of 
water  over  and  over  again,  and  as  this  water  passes 
through  the  corn  system  the  corn  food  is  carried  into  the 
cells  of  the  leaves,  where  the  sunlight  transforms  it  into 
the  material  that  the  plant  needs  in  its  growth. 

It  is  said  that  the  leaves  of  the  corn  plant  on  an  acre 
of  soil  will  throw  oflf  during  a  season  water  that  would 
cover  the  ground  to  a  depth  of  ten  inches. 

This,  if  true  would  prove  that  we  must  conserve  the 
soil  moisture  if  we  successfully  grow  corn.  This  is  the 
most  important  feature  of  corn  culture,  and  one  we  must 
learn  and  appreciate. 

That  system  of  corn  culture  must  be  adopted  which 
will  conserve  the  soil  moisture  so  that  it  may  be  avail- 
able in  sufficient  quantities  during  each  day  of  the  growth 
of  the  corn  plant.  The  moisture  must  not  be  allowed  to 
evaporate  from  the  ground. 

The  only  way  to  preserve  soil  moisture  and  prevent 
evaporation  is  to  keep  stirring  the  ground  to  the  depth 
of  one  or  two  inches,  so  as  to  procure  the  soil  mulch  or 
blanket  of  finely  pulverized  soil  on  top  of  the  ground. 
We  must  ever  keep  in  mind  that  corn  has  but  two  sets 
of  roots,  feeding  and  bracing.  The  feeding  roots  are 
small  and  tender,  and  run  out  from  the  plant  in  a  ho- 
rizontal direction  and  when  full  grown  exceed  the  height 
of  the  stalk.  They  first  appear  but  a  few  inches  below 
the  surface  and  never  penetrate  to  the  depth  at  which 


THE  CULTURE  OF  CORN  i6i 

the  soil  was  broken  until  the  corn  is  in  silk.  An  exam- 
ination of  the  field  during  the  growing  season  from  the 
second  cultivation  to  the  "  laying-by "  time  will  show 
these  feeding  roots  occupying  the  entire  soil  between 
the  rows  of  corn. 

When  the  corn  reaches  its  silking  stage  these  roots 
will  appear  in  great  quantities.  They  are  searching  for 
food  and  moisture  to  complete  the  growth  of  the  com 
plant;  hence  the  necessity  of  their  protection  and  con- 
serving the  moisture  for  their  use. 

No  weeds  must  be  allowed  to  grow,  as  they  rob  the 
corn  roots  of  food  and  moisture  needed  for  the  corn 
plant.  Cultivation  must  be  kept  up  as  long  as  possible, 
so  that  the  soil  moisture  may  be  maintained  until  the 
corn  plant  has  stored  sufficient  food  to  mature  its  ears 
of  corn. 

My  most  successful  method  of  corn  culture  is  to  first 
run  the  harrow  or  weeder  over  the  corn  a  few  days  after 
planting  and  before  the  corn  has  come  through  the  soil. 
One  good  harrowing  with  the  harrow  or  weeder  before 
the  corn  is  up  does  more  good  than  two  or  three  plow- 
ings  as  it  kills  all  sprouting  weeds  and  stirs  all  portions 
of  the  soil.  In  fact  a  weeder  can  be  used  to  great  ad- 
vantage in  cultivating  corn  from  the  time  it  is  planted 
until  it  reaches  a  height  of  several  inches,  running  over 
the  corn  several  times  during  that  period. 

The  author  knows  of  a  farmer  who  uses  the  weeder  oji 
his  corn  from  the  time  it  is  planted  until  it  is  knee  high, 
going  over  his  corn  as  many  as  five  or  six  times  during 
that  period. 

When  the  farmer  was  first  noticed  doing  this  he  was 


i62  THE  CULTURE  OF  CORN 

asked  in  a  spirit  of  derision  if  he  intended  to  gather  his 
corn  with  a  weeder.  But  this  farmer's  corn  is  always 
entirely  free  from  weeds  and  produces  fine  yields  no 
matter  how  dry  the  season  may  be. 

When  the  corn  is  large  enough  plow  the  corn  each  way 
as  deep  as  possible  getting  as  close  to  the  corn  as  you  can. 
All  cultivation  after  this  must  be  such  as  stirs  the  soil 
to  the  depth  of  an  inch,  the  cultivation  to  be  frequent 
and  kept  up  until  the  corn  is  well  along  towards  matur- 
ity. When  corn  is  too  large  to  cultivate  with  two-horse 
cultivators,  a  one-horse  cultivator  that  barely  scratches 
the  soil  should  be  frequently  used. 

Good  corn  culture  means  an  early  starting  and  a  late 
discontinuance  of  the  cultivators. 

I  have  known  corn  yields  to  be  cut  short  by  lack  of 
early  and  late  cultivation.  When  the  growth  of  corn  has 
been  once  stunted  the  damage  done  cannot  be  repaired. 

I  once  gave  one-half  of  a  field  of  corn  two  late  culti- 
vations with  a  one-horse  combined  harrow  and  cultivator, 
and  increased  the  yield  nearly  ten  bushels  per  acre  over 
the  half  not  cultivated. 

The  corn's  crisis  is  when  it  has  completed  its  stalk 
growth  and  begins  making  the  ear.  If  at  this  time  the 
dry  season  begins  and  soil  becomes  so  compact  and  dry 
that  moisture  and  air  is  excluded,  conditions  favorable 
to  the  proper  maturity  of  the  ear  are  cut  short.  At  this 
critical  time  the  cultivators  should  be  kept  moving. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

SWEET  CORN 

SWEET  corn  is  used  almost  entirely  for  human 
food,  so  vast  quantities  of  it  are  consumed  upon 
our  dining  tables.  A  favorite  way  of  cooking  it 
is  to  boil  it  on  the  cob,  and  served  in  this  manner  it  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  "  courses  of  the  most  refined  and 
epicurean  dishes."  The  great  canning  industry  of  the 
United  States  also  consumes  great  quantities  of  it,  their 
average  yearly  pack  being  over  six  million  cases,  of  two 
dozen  cans  each. 

The  sweet  corn  plant  cut  up  and  properly  cured  for 
fodder  makes  a  valuable  feed  for  all  stock,  one  of  the 
most  valuable  that  can  be  grown  on  the  farm.  Stock 
will  entirely  consume  it.  As  a  winter  feed  for  horses  it 
excels  in  value  any  feed  grown.  It  puts  and  keeps 
horses  in  good  condition.  It  cannot  be  overfed,  and 
horses  and  cattle  will  almost  entirely  subsist  upon  it 
through  the  winter  season,  coming  out  in  the  spring  in 
fine  condition.  It  is  one  of  the  best  milk-producing 
feeds  grown,  producing  quantities  of  well-tasting  rich 
milk.  Where  dairying  is  carried  on  to  a  large  extent 
sweet  corn  fodder  is  considered  worth  ten  dollars  per 
acre.  Some  even  claim  that  one  acre  is  equal  to  eight 
acres  of  grass,  and  worth  more  than  two  acres  of  any 
forage  crop  grown. 

165 


i66  SWEET  CORN 

Sweet  corn  fodder  should  be  cut  when  the  leaves  are 
glazing  and  put  in  small  shocks  for  curing. 

In  habit  of  growth  sweet  corn  is  smaller  than  field 
corn,  but  otherwise  its  characteristics  are  similar.  It 
requires  the  same  soil,  attention  and  cultivation  to  grow 
it  as  field  corn. 

Like  field  corn,  its  varieties  are  many.  The  varieties 
chiefly  grown  for  canning  purposes  are  Stowell's  Ever- 
green, Early  Evergreen,  Crosby's  Early  and  Country 
Gentlemen,  the  first  and  last  named  being  the  leaders. 

While  Stowell's  Evergreen  has  large  ears,  it  is  the 
sweetest  and  most  valuable  of  all.  The  author's  large 
and  long  experience  with  it  for  canning  purposes  has 
convinced  him  that  this  variety  gathered  in  the  right 
stage  comes  nearer  filling  the  requirements  for  a  perfect 
sweet  corn  than  any  variety  that  is  grown.  While  it  is 
true  that  the  Country  Gentlemen  variety  has  the  reputa- 
tion and  sells  for  the  most  money,  yet  Stowell's  Ever- 
green plucked  at  the  right  stage  has  a  flavor  that  cannot 
be  excelled. 

In  the  main  sweet  corn  belt  it  can  be  planted  from 
May  I  to  July  i.  Planting  in  wet,  cold  soils  must  be 
avoided,  as  the  seed  will  rot.  The  planting  of  the  seed 
should  never  exceed  an  inch  in  depth.  As  stated  in  the 
previous  chapter,  a  poor  stand  of  sweet  corn  can  be  at- 
tributed nine  times  out  of  ten  to  too  deep  planting  of  the 
seed. 

The  seed  must  have  just  the  right  amount  of  heat  and 
moisture  to  germinate  it  properly,  yet  there  is  no  diffi- 
culty in  securing  a  stand  if  one  is  careful  in  planting  it 
when  ground  is  warm  and  not  too  wet. 


IKJftM.COilFfiriiMAfti, 


SWEET  CORN  167 

There  seems  to  be  a  disposition  to  plant  sweet  corn 
too  thick.  This  is  a  mistake.  There  should  never  be  to 
exceed  three  grains  to  a  hill,  and  when  drilled  set  drill 
to  drop  about  one  foot  apart. 

Good  seed  ought  to  test  95  per  cent. ;  where  it  tests 
less  than  this  I  would  advise  hand  picking  the  seed,  pick- 
ing out  the  brightest  and  best  grains.  It  pays  to  do  this, 
and  it  can  be  done  in  bad  days  of  spring  when  other  work 
cannot  be  done. 

Canning  factories  pay  from  five  to  ten  dollars  per  ton 
for  sweet  corn  jerked  from  the  stalk,  and  delivered  to 
the  factory  in  a  green  stage  fit  for  canning.  Some  fac- 
tories have  a  system  of  grading  or  testing  by  which  a 
bushel  is  taken  from  each  load  and  shucked  and  weighed, 
when  it  must  come  up  to  a  certain  fixed  standard,  but 
generally  it  is  bought  by  the  ton  just  as  it  is  jerked  in 
the  field.  The  ten-dollar  price  is  paid  for  the  smaller 
eared  variety  like  Country  Gentlemen,  which  do  not  pro- 
duce a  large  number  of  tons  per  acre.  The  highest  price 
paid  for  heavy  yielding  varieties,  like  Stowell's  Ever- 
green, is  eight  dollars  per  ton,  and  at  this  price  there  is. 
money  in  growing  it,  as  it  will  produce  from  four  to  six 
tons  per  acre,  to  which  add  the  value  of  the  fodder  and 
you  have  one  of  the  most  profitable  crops  grown  on  the 
farm.  If  it  does  not  prove  a  profitable  crop  it  is  because 
it  has  been  planted  on  poor  soil  or  its  cultivation  has  been 
neglected.  It  will  respond  and  produce  fine  paying  crops 
if  given  a  chance.  The  author  has  known  farmers  to  put 
it  on  their  poorest,  worst  drained  soil,  give  it  practically 
no  cultivation  and  then  curse  and  condemn  it  as  a  non- 
money  maker.     He  knew  one  farmer  who  planted  five 


i68  SWEET  CORN 

acres  and  never  cultivated  it  once,  and  then  he  expressed 
himself  that  there  was  no  money  in  growing  it. 

Sweet  corn  to  be  fit  for  eating  or  canning  must  be 
harvested  when  the  shucks  are  green  and  while  the 
grain  is  in  the  milky  stage.  It  is  of  no  value  for  eating 
or  canning  when  the  shuck  is  yellow  and  the  grain  is 
hard.  It  must  be  brought  to  the  factory  the  day  har- 
vested. If  allowed  to  stand  in  the  wagon  over  night  it 
heats  and  becomes  valueless.  While  it  is  true  that  fac- 
tories hold  it  over  the  night,  yet  they  put  it  on  cement 
or  ventilated  floors,  where  it  is  spread  out  thin  so  that 
air  reaches  into  the  interior  of  the  pile  and  where  there 
is  no  danger  of  its  heating. 

Sweet  corn  has  an  enemy  in  the  worm  found  in  the 
end  of  the  ear  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  and  which 
is  said  to  be  the  same  worm  that  destroys  the  cotton 
crop,  the  Bollworm,  which  does  serious  damage  to  its 
ears.  While  this  worm  is  found  to  some  extent  in  all 
sweet  corn,  it  is  chiefly  found  in  sweet  corn  grown  in 
warmer  latitude.  For  this  reason  sweet  corn  grown 
south  of  a  line  parallel  with  the  Ohio  river  cannot  be 
grown  for  or  handled  by  canning  factories  with  profit, 
as  the  work  of  removing  the  corn  damaged  by  the  worm 
adds  too  much  expense  to  the  finished  product. 

In  the  sweet  corn  growing  section  this  worm  appears 
late  in  the  season,  but  it  has  been  known  to  make  its 
appearance  before  the  season  was  more  than  one-half 
past,  and  to  put  a  complete  stop  to  further  operations  of 
factories.  It  always  appears  to  a  considerable  extent  in 
late  planting.  For  that  reason  sweet  corn  for  canning 
purposes  should  never  be  planted  later  than  June  15  to 


SWEET  CORN  169 

20.  No  remedy  has  yet  been  discovered  by  which  this 
worm  or  its  parent  can  be  destroyed. 

The  chief  sweet  corn  growing  states  for  canning  pur- 
poses are  Illinois,  Iowa,  Maine,  Ohio,  New  York,  Mary- 
land, Wisconsin  and  Indiana.  The  states  are  named  in 
the  order  as  to  quantity  produced  for  canning.  While 
Maine  has  the  reputation  of  packing  the  best  corn,  yet 
all  the  other  states  mentioned  can  and  do  pack  just  as 
good  corn  as  Maine. 

The  canning  of  sweet  corn  so  as  to  be  palatable  is  an 
art  in  which  but  few  are  skilled.  The  best  of  sweet  corn 
can  be  spoiled  in  canning.  Like  the  preparation  of  any 
food,  so  as  to  be  a  delight  to  the  taste,  it  is  generally  up 
to  the  cook. 

Sweet  corn  to  be  good  must  be  sweet,  and  this  sweet- 
ness cannot  be  artificially  supplied  by  the  addition  of 
sugar,  for  the  original  sweetness  cannot  be  imitated. 

No  northern  state  has  any  advantage  over  another  as 
to  possessing  a  soil  or  climate  that  will  produce  sweet 
corn  containing  an  abundance  of  natural  sweet,  for 
southern  states  will  grow  sweeter  sweet  corn  than  any 
northern  state.  It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  sweet  corn 
grown  on  sandy  soil  will  contain  more  sugar  than  that 
grown  on  muck  or  heavy  black  soils.  If  Maine  packs 
better  corn  it  is  because  she  has  better  cooks  in  her  can- 
ning factories,  and  possesses  more  skill  in  knowing  how 
to  handle  the  raw  material  so  as  to  prevent  it  from  de- 
teriorating before  it  gets  into  the  can. 

Sugar  begins  to  disappear  from  sweet  corn  as  soon  as 
the  ear  is  separated  from  the  stalk.  A  chemical  change 
sets  about  at  once  and  the  sugar  is  transformed  into 


I70  SWEET  CORN 

other  substances.  The  rapidity  of  this  changing  process 
can  be  arrested  to  a  certain  extent  only  by  handhng  the 
corn  quickly  and  keeping  it  at  as  low  a  temperature  as 
possible,  A  large  body  of  plucked  sweet  corn  will  heat 
very  quickly  and  become  worthless,  because  the  chemical 
change  brought  about  by  the  heating  destroys  the  sugar 
in  the  corn.  If  any  northern  section  of  the  country  has 
any  advantage  over  another  in  producing  good  sweet 
sugar  corn,  it  is  because  it  has  such  a  low  temperature 
that  the  corn  can  be  kept  in  a  tender  and  cool  stage  for 
a  longer  period  of  time. 

An  excessive  rainfall  is  injurious  to  sweet  corn.  Dur- 
ing a  dry  season  if  a  healthy  growth  can  be  maintained 
the  product  will  contain  more  sugar.  By  proper  cultiva- 
tion during  dry  weather  a  healthy  growth  can  be  main- 
tained and  a  large  growth  of  corn  can  be  produced. 
The  author  demonstrated  this  during  the  seasons  of  1908 
and  1909  to  his  complete  satisfaction.  The  season  of 
1908  was  very  dry,  and  his  crop  of  sweet  corn  was  the 
best  quality  and  the  best  yield  he  ever  produced.  The 
season  of  1909  was  too  wet,  and  his  crop  did  not  come 
up  to  quantity  produced  to  the  acre  by  a  ton  or  more, 
and  the  quality  was  not  as  good. 

When  the  skin  of  the  grains  of  sweet  corn  is  broken 
it  undergoes  fermentative  changes  at  a  rapid  rate  be- 
cause of  its  high  percentage  of  sugar,  and  this  also 
affords  an  opportunity  for  dangerous  bacteria  to  enter 
into  the  corn  juices,  resulting  in  sour  corn,  the  canners' 
worst  enemy.  No  amount  of  heat  that  can  be  applied 
by  canning  apparatus  will  destroy  them.  It  is  said  that 
the  source  of  the  germ  of  these  bacteria  is  from  the  ears 


SWEET  CORN  171 

of  corn,  their  presence  being  found  on  the  kernels  be- 
neath the  husks. 

All  this  shows  the  necessity  of  great  care  in  getting 
sweet  corn  into  the  factory  in  the  right  stage,  condition 
and  manner  and  the  proper  handling  of  it  in  the  factory. 

Sweet  corn  has  a  low  conducting  power  of  heat,  hence 
the  necessity  of  a  long  period  of  heating  in  order  that 
bacteria  that  produce  spoliation  be  killed.  If  not  suffi- 
ciently heated  the  center  of  the  can  is  not  sterilized  and 
souring  begins  there. 

The  reason  the  housewife  does  not  successfully  can 
sweet  corn  is  because  she  does  not  submit  it  to  a  proper 
heating  process.  If  she  would  boil  it  seven  hours  in  a 
kettle  it  probably  would  keep  for  her. 

A  woman  once  asked  the  author  the  name  of  the  acid 
he  used  in  his  canning  factory  to  preserve  sweet  corn  in 
the  can  from  spoiling,  and  when  she  was  informed  that 
no  acid  was  used,  but  that  the  preserving  process  was 
obtained  solely  by  sterilization  or  heat,  she  was  incredu- 
lous and  went  away  firmly  believing  that  the  author  was 
lying. 


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t/7<  ^^m 

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.■^^Hj^^y'           ^H 

A  GOOD  TYPE  OF  SWEET  CORN  SEED.  STOWELL'S 
EVERGREEX. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

A   CHAPTER   OF   DON't    FORGETS 

DON'T  FORGET  — That  soil  is  as  jealous  as 
a  lover;  neglect  or  mistreat  it  and  its  bounty 
is  withdrawn.     Caress  and  feed  it,  it  yields  a 
hundredfold. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  a  farmer  becomes  a  soil  robber 
when  he  does  not  each  year  put  back  into  the  soil  more 
organic  matter  than  he  farmed  out  of  it. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  corn  stalk  is  one  of  the 
farmer's  best  by-products.  A  ton  of  them  contains  six- 
teen pounds  of  nitrogen  and  nearly  as  many  pounds  of 
potash,  and  the  organic  matter  in  them  is  of  inestimable 
value  for  supplying  humus  to  the  soil. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  moisture-conserving  ca- 
pacity of  the  soil  is  increased  by  the  plowing  under  of 
large  amounts  of  organic  matter. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  organic  matter  in  the  soil  aids 
soil  ventilation,  and  furnishes  supplies  of  nitrogen  for 
the  growing  plant. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  rye,  hungarian  and  the  legumes 
are  the  best  producers  of  organic  matter. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  farmer  who  refuses  to  sup- 
ply the  wants  of  his  soil  is  traveling  along  the  highway 
of  the  abandoned  farm. 

175 


176   A  CHAPTER  ON  DON'T  FORGETS 

Don't  Forget  —  That  it  takes  less  than  fifty  years  to 
farm  out  the  fertility  of  the  soil  if  none  is  added  in  the 
meantime. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  England's  soil,  after  a  tillage  of 
centuries,  is  as  fertile  to-day  as  in  any  stage  of  its  exist- 
ence, kept  so  by  sane  methods  of  soil  building. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  entire  prosperity  of  our 
country  is  founded  on  the  fertility  of  our  soil,  and  that 
he  only  is  a  patriot  who  lends  his  aid  to  conserve  that 
fertility. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  conservation  of  soil  wealth 
means  a  full  dinner  pail  in  the  hands  of  every  working- 
man,  a  loaf  of  bread  on  every  dining  table  and  comfort- 
able clothing  on  every  human  body. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  conservation  and  increas- 
ing of  soil  fertility  means  the  building  up  of  an  empire 
in  our  Middle  West,  richer  in  power  and  splendor  than 
any  ever  dreamed  or  imagined. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  environment  and  greed  has 
made  us  soil  robbers,  that  we  must  get  away  from  that 
environment  and  greed  or  perish. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  he  who  gets  closest  to  the  soil 
reaps  its  richest  reward. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  he  only  is  a  farmer  who  loves 
and  feeds  his  soil. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  proper  feeding  of  the  soil 
requires  the  exercise  of  a  fertile  brain. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  a  farmer  who  does  not  love  his 
soil  will  mistreat  it. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  a  soil  robber  is  always  a  man 
of  greed. 


A  CHAPTER  ON  DON'T  FORGETS   177 

Don't  Forget  —  That  soil  building  is  but  the  applica- 
tion of  simple  common  sense  to  the  solution  of  simple 
agricultural  problems. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  no  one  is  worthy  the  name  of 
farmer  unless  he  is  willing  to  do  that  which  will  give  his 
soil  a  chance  to  do  its  best. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  for  soil  to  do  its  best  it  must 
be  fed  the  food  elements  it  needs. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  soil  robber  is  the  highway- 
man of  agriculture. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  crop  rotation  alone  will  not 
build  up  your  soil. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  you  cannot  get  too  much  or- 
ganic matter  in  your  soil. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  farmer  should  be  trained 
for  his  work  as  the  lawyer  is  trained  for  his  profession. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  he  who  expects  to  build  up  his 
soil  by  crop  rotation  alone  is  doomed  to  failure  and  bitter 
disappointment. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  it  requires  as  much  intelligence 
to  direct  the  business  of  building  up  the  soil  as  it  does  to 
direct  the  affairs  of  trade  or  commerce. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  more  intelligence  you  put 
into  your  soil  the  more  money  value  you  will  extract 
from  it. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  farm  values  are  based  on  soil 
fertility. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  soil,  like  the  horse,  gives  its 
best  service  when  it  is  well  groomed  and  fed. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  he  gets  closest  to  the  soil  who 
studies  its  whims,  its  moods  and  its  needs. 


178        A  CHAPTER  ON  DON'T  FORGETS 

Don't  Forget  —  That  soil  building  is  the  most  vital 
problem  of  the  age. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  legume  crops  furnish  the 
"  balanced  ration  "  needed  for  soils. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  a  breathing  soil  means  a  living, 
fruitful  crop.  That  soil  cannot  breathe  unless  it  is 
ditched  and  full  of  organic  matter. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  ratio  of  increase  of  your 
soil  will  be  in  proportion  to  your  interest  in  scientific 
farming. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  great  secret  of  soil  restora- 
tion is  to  keep  your  soil  busy  growing  crops  for  both 
harvesting  and  plowing  under. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  soil  that  produces  the  poor- 
est crops  is  like  an  inferior  farm  product  —  it  doesn't 
bring  the  price. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  improved  agriculture  is  brought 
about  by  fertile  brains  as  well  as  fertile  fields. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  when  Nature  built  the  original 
soil  she  used  a  lavish  supply  of  organic  matter  in  its 
construction. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  to  pull  every  day  a  full  two- 
horse  load  requires  two  horses  well  fed  and  groomed. 
To  make  the  soil  pull  its  load  of  good  crops  it  must  be 
fed  and  groomed  each  day. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  real  farmer  is  one  who 
manages  so  as  to  put  back  each  year  into  the  soil  more 
fertility  than  was  extracted  from  it  by  growing  crops. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  bedrock  of  the  paying  farm 
is  soil,  well  fed. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  your  success  in  soil  restoration 


A  CHAPTER  ON  DON'T  FORGETS   179 

depends  on  your  gumption  to  catch  onto  Nature's  ways 
of  soil  building. 

,V,  Don't  Forget  —  That  the  farmer  who  has  no  thought 
beyond  the  year's  profit,  has  his  soil  headed  towards  the 
doom  of  soil  exhaustion. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  you  increase  the  value  of  your 
soil  in  proportion  to  what  you  feed  it. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  skilled  workmen  are  required 
in  all  trades,  why  not  on  the  farm  ? 

Don't  Forget  —  That  our  entire  substance  comes  from 
the  soil.     If  it  fails  us,  we  perish. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  American  farmer  has  yet 
to  learn  the  lesson  of  "  proper  feeding  of  the  soil." 

Don't  Forget  —  That  soil  is  as  sensitive  and  resentive 
of  neglect  as  a  human  being. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  in  the  history  of  nations  no 
crisis  ever  came  but  what  God  produced  the  man  to 
handle  it,  so  in  the  crisis  of  soil  exhaustion  God  has  pro- 
duced the  plant  or  material  that  will  restore  it. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  you  cannot  get  anything  out  of 
worn-out  soil  until  you  put  something  in  it. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  you  must  forget  the  way  the 
pioneer  farmed.  You  must  think  only  of  the  way  the 
soil  must  be  farmed  to-day. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  purpose  of  this  book  is  not 
so  much  to  tell  people  exactly  how  to  enrich  the  soil,  as 
it  is  to  rightly  direct  their  thoughts  and  investigations 
that  they  may  help  themselves  to  solve  the  soil  problem. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  your  severest  test  is  in  getting 
your  worn-out  soil  started  towards  increasing  fertility. 
\  Don't  Forget  —  That  in  pushing  along  the  worn-out 


i8o   A  CHAPTER  ON  DON'T  FORGETS 

soil  towards  fertility,  it's  the  keeping  at  it  that  furnishes 
the  momentum  that  accomplished  results. 

Don't  Forget — ^That  it  is  said  that  the  net  income 
of  the  average  farmer  is  greater  than  the  net  income  of 
the  average  city  man,  but  that  average  cannot  be  main- 
tained without  increasing  the  fertility  of  the  soil. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  much  of  soil  building  is  being 
done  like  he  who  is  trying  to  pull  a  two-horse  load  with 
one  horse  hitched  to  the  end  of  the  tongue. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  you  cannot  build  up  your  soil 
as  long  as  you  continue  to  carry  to  the  barn  everything 
that  grows  upon  it. 

.   Don't   Forget  —  That  covering  the  soil  with  green 
crops  is  one  of  the  farmer's  best  methods  of  soil  building. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  organic  matter  gone  up  into 
smoke  leaves  no  residue  of  value  to  the  soil. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  crop  rotation  is  a  gay  deceiver. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  it  has  been  said  that  the  soil  is 
a  living  thing.     The  better  reason  why  it  should  be  fed. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  prosperous  looking  farms  and 
farm  buildings  are  but  the  reflex  of  a  fertile  soil. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  man  behind  the  plow  is  no 
longer  a  force  in  a  community  when  his  plow  is  turning 
infertile  or  worn-out  soil. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  it  is  folly  to  select  and  plant 
good  seed  in  soil  too  poor  to  grow  and  mature  them  to  a 
paying  crop. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  men  who  once  grew  big 
crops  on  our  worn-out  soils  were  poor  farmers  or  else 
these  soils  would  now  be  rich  in  fertility. 
"  Don't  Forget  —  That  the  policy  of  properly  feeding 


A  CHAPTER  ON  DON'T  FORGETS   i8i 

the  soil  is  not  only  good  for  future  generations,  but  for 
the  farmer  who  practices  it. 
^-       Don't  Forget  —  That  the  farmer  who  does  not  ever 
have  in  view  the  conservation  and  increasing  of  soil  fer- 
tility is  obstructing  his  own  way  to  success. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  he  who  produces  the  best  crops 
is  the  one  who  ditches  and  feeds  his  soil  the  best. 
\^(H)  Don't  Forget  —  That  the  farmer  who  says  he  cannot 
afford  to  plow  under  green  crops,  will  soon  say  there  is 
no  money  in  farming. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  there  is  no  limit  to  the  possi- 
bilities of  our  well-drained  soils  so  long  as  we  do  not 
limit  their  feed  of  organic  matter. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  you  cannot  overfeed  your  soil 
with  organic  matter. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  truly  successful  soil  builder 
is  the  one  who  drains  his  soil,  tills  it  well,  feeds  it  large 
quantities  of  organic  matter  and  keeps  it  busy  with  grow- 
ing crops. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  physical  condition  and 
available  plant  food  of  the  soil  can  only  be  maintained 
by  feeding  it  with  plenty  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  foundation  of  soil  building 
is  draining. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  draining  a  soil  is  like  currying 
a  horse  —  it  opens  the  pores  and  increases  circulation. 
— ^  Don't  Forget  —  That  organic  matter  is  farmed  out 
of  the  soil  in  less  than  four  years ;  hence  the  necessity  of 
adding  to  the  supply  each  year. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  well-drained  soil  full  of  or- 
ganic matter  is  never  sour. 


i82        A  CHAPTER  ON  DON'T  FORGETS 

Don't  Forget  —  That  it  is  the  folly  of  follies  to  use 
commercial  fertilizer  on  soils  lacking  in  organic  matter. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  it  takes  as  much  plant  food  to 
grow  weeds  as  corn ;  kill  the  weeds. 

Don't  Forget  —  That  the  boy  and  the  girl  are  two  of 
the  best  products  of  the  farmer,  if  trained  along  the 
lines  of  scientific  agriculture  and  farm  domestic  science. 


THE  FARMER'S  BEST  PRODUCT,  IF  EDUCATED  ALONG 
THE  LINES  OF  SCIENTIFIC  AGRICULTURE. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

CONCLUSION 

IF  in  the  perusal  of  the  preceding  chapters  the  reader 
has  imbibed  some  of  the  author's  enthusiasm  for 
soil  building,  crop-growing  and  love  of  nature,  then 
the  mission  of  this  book  has  borne  good  fruit. 

There  is  no  grander  nor  more  useful  study  than  the 
study  of  the  soil  problem.  It  is  a  study  that  is  of  more 
vital  interest  to  the  public  than  any  other,  for  the  very 
fabric  of  life  depends  upon  its  correct  solution. 

Since  penning  the  proem  and  introduction  of  this  book 
a  mighty  agitation  has  swept  over  and  into  every  part  of 
our  country  regarding  the  high  price  of  living. 

The  price  of  farm  products  and  manufactured  goods 
being  higher  than  known  for  years,  our  people  are  en- 
gaged in  a  great  discussion  trying  to  ascertain  the  cause 
of  these  high  prices. 

The  concensus  of  opinion  seems  to  be  that  the  chief 
cause  of  high  prices  is  the  fact  that  too  many  of  our 
people  have  left  the  farms  for  our  cities,  so  the  cry  has 
gone  up  that  the  only  solution  of  the  question  of  high 
prices  is  "  more  producers  and  less  consumers."  "  Back 
to  the  Farm  "  is  the  slogan. 

Our  educational  system  is  faulty.     The  boy  and  the 
girl  have  been  educated  away  from  the  lines  of  agricul- 
ture and  farm  domestic  science. 
185 


i86  CONCLUSION 

The  ambitious  country  boy  with  bright,  sharp  intellect 
has  had  held  up  to  him  only  the  ideals  of  business  and 
professional  life.  The  soil  problems,  the  love  of  nature, 
the  joy  and  financial  returns  of  farming  fertile  fields  and 
the  peacefulness  of  good  farm  surroundings  have  had  no 
place  in  his  education,  so  he  has  grown  up  believing  that 
no  true  happiness  or  financial  gain  is  to  be  found  on  the 
farm. 

The  farmer  boy  so  educated  has  drifted  into  the 
never-ending  strife  and  worry  of  city  men  and  business, 
and  our  farms  have  lost  the  best  bloom  of  our  young 
manhood.- 

True,  some  of  the  boys  have  attained  success  and  emi- 
nence, and  maybe  happiness,  but  the  vast  majority  of 
the  mighty  army  of  boys  who  have  drifted  from  the 
farm  into  the  cities  bear  the  marks  of  disappointment 
and  blasted  lives ;  they  have  not  gotten  out  of  life  what 
they  would  have  gotten  had  they  been  educated  along 
the  lines  of  scientific  agriculture  and  remained  on  the 
farm. 

While  we  are  changing  our  methods  of  farming,  so 
as  to  build  up  our  soils,  let  us  so  change  our  educational 
system  that  it  will  educate  our  boys  and  girls  to  live 
rural  lives  and  help  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  soil  and 
of  farm  domestic  science,  that  the  fields  of  our  farms 
will  be  made  richer,  our  herds  and  flocks  be  built  up  of 
better  grades,  our  homes  inside  and  out  be  made  more 
pleasant  and  more  attractive. 

When  this  is  done  the  great  procession  of  boys  and 
girls  will  be  headed  towards  the  farm,  and  the  profes- 


CONCLUSION  187 

sions,  the  mercantile  and  manufacturing  business  will  be 
relieved  of  the  congestion  of  workers. 

Nearly  forty  years  ago  the  author,  a  boy  of  fifteen, 
bid  an  affectionate  adieu  to  his  mother  on  the  old  farm 
porch  and  set  his  face  towards  the  city  and  entered  its 
busy  activities.  He  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  for 
a  time,  attending  school  and  college,  educated  himself 
for  the  profession  of  law,  engaged  in  the  successful  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  for  many  years,  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing, farming,  political  strife  and  office  holding,  and 
now  finds  himself  past  the  meridian  of  life  with  a  great 
fund  of  experience  to  his  credit. 

But  now  as  the  border  land  of  eternity  appears  to  view, 
realizing  that  it  will  be  but  a  short  time  until  "  life's  fit- 
ful dream  "  will  be  o'er,  he  yearns  to  spend  the  remainder 
of  his  days  upon  the  farm,  that  he  may  regain  some  of 
the  lost  pleasures  of  farm  life.  Upon  the  farm,  where, 
far  removed  from  the  bitter,  galling  strife  of  men,  he 
may  commune  with  nature,  study  soil  problems,  smell 
the  bloom  of  vetch  and  clover,  admire  the  beauty  of 
growing  plants,  hear  the  songs  of  birds  and  the  soothing 
rustle  of  the  corn,  and  bask  in  the  delights  of  sunshine 
and  open  sky. 

Farmers  of  America,  you  do  not  realize  what  God  and 
Nature  have  done  for  you.  Your  lines  have  indeed 
"  fallen  in  pleasant  places,"  but  oh,  so  many  of  you  have 
failed  to  grasp  your  opportunities.  Ye  are  God's  chosen 
people  and  yet  you  do  not  act  it. 

If  you  are  tempted  to  leave  the  farm,  command  the 
tempter  to  get  behind  you.     Stay  with  your  fields,  your 


i88  CONCLUSION 

flocks  and  herds,  improve  your  surroundings  and  make 
them  more  attractive;  train  your  boys  and  girls  to  be 
good  farmers  and  housekeepers  and  enjoy  the  peaceful, 
restful  life  of  the  farm. 

There's  music  in  the  words,  "  Back  to  the  Farm,"  but 
there  is  sweeter  music  in  the  words,  "  Better  Stay  on  the 
Farm  a  While  Longer." 

"  The  farm  is  the  safest  and  surest, 
The  orchards  are  loaded  to-day; 
You're  as  free  as  the  air  of  the  mountains, 
And  monarch  of  all  you  survey. 

"  Better  stay  on  the  farm  a  while  longer, 
Tho'  the  profits  come  in  rather  slow; 
Remember  you've  nothing  to  risk,  boys. 
Don't  be  in  a  hurry  to  go." 


N.  MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA  46962 


